TORTURED
by Die Schreiberin
Summary: Kaname has her mind on someone and the need for forgiveness, possibly more. Sorry slight OOC!
1. Chapter 1

**TORTURED**

I don't own anything, only the idea.

Her red hair and bold nature taunted her. She just could get her out of her head. It was strange that someone smaller than her, someone who seemed like such a no body could torture her mind so much. A smiled formed on her face as she thought of how much fun it was to boss the little red head around. Heck, it was fun to boss any Miator around.

Despite what people may think of her, for instance a devil, a slut, a troublemaker filled with greed, no one could dispute that she wasn't true to her school, true to the white Spica uniform. She thought on how she had been always second best next to Otori Amane. However, she was well respected in her school, or maybe she was more feared then anything, but people still greeted her with smiles.

She was a little angry at Tamori Shion for overlooking her brilliance for the brilliance of Otori Amane. She had to admit, she liked the girl, but she cursed herself for falling into the trap of anyone who took a look of the Prince of Spica. She didn't like the fan she was wondering the path of being part of the crowd, when she felt like she was meant to shine apart from the crowd.

A smile spread on her face as she thought on her lover Momomi. They were alike in many ways, being devious was one of them. She loved having someone who she could manipulate to do what she wanted, but it was more than just manipulating that she liked about the girl. It was the fact she felt like she an equal or at least someone who could filled the void of her lonely heart.

Yes, indeed she was lonely, but she would never admit it. She felt like no one truly loved her. Sure, she may be a daughter of a wealthy business man, but he was never home. Her mother died when she was very young. Except for a maid here or there to tend to her, she never really made any friends. The fact is she grew spoiled, by her father showering gifts at her feet. She learned at a very young age she could always get what she wanted and no one questioned her morals. Those who worked for her and her father were just too afraid to confront the young woman for fear of losing their employment. She could have cared less.

It wasn't until she entered Spica did she truly found her first friend Momomi, but that was only after she tried to make friends with Amane, because it seemed as if they could share the same interests, such as Athletics. However, Amane brushed her aside and she ended up becoming friends with the girly Momomi. A frown appeared on her face as she thought of how being with Momomi was fun, but also tiring. Being the bitch (a/n: I don't like to use language) she was, grew tiresome. Getting what she wanted didn't feel right anymore, but she just to addicted to it and Momomi encouraged to continue down the path of darkness and loneliness. For once she wanted to be with someone would encourage her to be a better person. Thus her mind went back to the red head.

The red head's passion just came out of nowhere and blew her away. No one had ever talked with some much self-righteousness to her before. It ignited a flame in her, something she never knew she could feel. She flinched as she recalled the near fatal incident. If Shizuma hadn't put herself in harm's way than the little red head would have probably face her doom as the scenery came crashing down towards her.

After being surprisingly scolded by Shizuma, for the arrogance she and Momomi had in pushing the red head into the back drop, she started to feel guilty and ashamed at her behavior. Yet she couldn't show her anguish, especially towards Momomi. She knew that Momomi wouldn't understand. Swallowing she sat up in bed and looked at the time. It was nearing morning sunrise and she hadn't slept at all that night. Her mind was kept on the little red head. Leaving Momomi in bed, she walked over to her chair and sat down. She felt like she had to do something, so she began a letter to a certain someone. After finishing the letter and putting it into and envelope, she snuck out and went to deliver the letter to the person of her thoughts.

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Normally she was a heavy sleeper, but when morning came she found a strong need to get out of bed. As she stood up to stretch, she noticed a cream colored paper on the floor by the door. Curious she bent down and picked it up. On the envelope she noticed her name on it. Being curious still, she took the letter and went to the bathroom with it. After opening the letter, while doing her business, she began to read.

_To: Aoi Nagisa,_

_I feel as if I have no right to talk to you, much less write to you, but I feel a need to do so. I would like to apologize for my earlier actions in almost causing your life to be taken away. I must admit, I am arrogant and see myself as some sort of sun, but I'm wrong. I'm not the sun here, you are. You shine brightly and every time I see you in brightens my day. You have a good heart and a noble spirit. I don't except your forgiveness. I just wanted to let you know, I'm so sorry._

_Yours truly,_

_Kenjo Kaname_

Nagisa was taken aback from the letter. She felt such sincerity from the letter that her eyes began to tear up. Because of the letter and her big heart, Nagisa freely forgave Kaname and she wanted to let the girl know.

A/N: I thought they needed a story together.


	2. Chapter 2

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All that morning, Nagisa seemed out of it as she was trying to find out how to get in contact with Kaname and set the girl at rest. Her mind went back to her brief encounter with the tall dark bluenette during the production of _Carmen_. She kind if guilty for making Kaname feel guilty, not only that but also for running the scenery. She hated how she had caused extra work for other people because she was clumsy. Of course she knew it could have been avoided if she didn't stand up for the production.

Even so, she never once thought about her life too much, but only thought she was somehow a burden. If there was one thing that can be said about Nagisa, she liked to have fun, but she also liked to work when the occasion demanded it and she was diligent about it. Especially when it came to doing something important like the play since it was a tradition. It could have just been her way of just fitting into a school where she transferred into, to make herself feel like she belonged.

Up until the school festival, she never had an encounter with Kaname or Momomi, so she didn't know what they were actually like. She didn't know she was supposed to be intimidated by them. When they bossed her around she felt a little of it, but her diligent manner helped her not to feel full impact because she just wanted the play to go perfectly and make everyone happy.

After the performance, she was with Shizuma and told her some of her worries about the whole thing. Shizuma smiled a little smile and said that Nagisa shouldn't blame herself for the whole mess, but that she should be proud of herself because she helped bring the play together. Shizuma knew of the bad attitudes of both Kaname and Momomi and how they hated to be in the play and trying to make things hard for everyone else. Unfortunately, Nagisa received the most of their discontent. She had explained these things to Nagisa and the red head felt better.

After the whole play thing, Nagisa found out a bit about Kaname and Momomi were like. They were highly respected and were both in the Spica's student council. After finding this out, she cursed herself for probably humiliating not only herself, but also those who had authority at another school. Almost as if she belittled them in some ways. The thought alone made her think about her first day at school when she falsely assumed the identity of the Etoile. Again it was chalked up to her being clumsy. For the most part she was only clumsy when she was either excited or stressed.

After these thoughts of the school festival, Nagisa had an idea. She looked to see how much time she had let in her last class before lunch and began to write a note of her own. After writing the note she tucked into her binder for later after classes. The day went by sluggish even if Tamao was trying her best to distract her friend from whatever was bothering her. Once classes were finished Nagisa and Tamao separated. Tamao went to do some class activities, while Nagisa went to the church. Normally Nagisa wouldn't have gone to the church, but would gone to the Etoile greenhouse to help Shizuma with flowers. However, today was different.

As she approached the church, she could hear the heavenly voices of the Spica girls choir. She opened the chapel doors quietly as to not to disturb the choir practice. She sat at a back pew and scanned the choir to find Hikari and Yaya, her two friends from Spica. Although she got along quite well with Hikari, her main focus for the moment was Yaya. She knew she couldn't ask Hikari for the favor she wanted to ask, since Hikari had a problem pertaining to the certain someone. So in the end she went with Yaya.

Yaya seemed so much more plausible than anyone Nagisa could think of. She had given it some thought on how to deliver the letter. She could have snuck it under the door to Kaname like she did, but thought better of it. What if Momomi picked it up? Kaname gave her the letter in secret and probably without the knowledge of Momomi. Nagisa thought on how Hikari had gotten a false letter from Kaname, but it was personally hand delivered. Somehow Nagisa thought it strange for the letter to be slipped under her door and knew Momomi wasn't in on it.

She could have given the letter to Shizuma or Miyuki to give to Kaname during a joint school council meeting, but thought better of it, since the letter Kaname sent her was secret. Too much publicity wasn't good. In the end, she thought giving the letter to Yaya was good, since she did help in restoring the long black haired girl's friendship with Hikari. Though the idea of getting a favor awarded was something she normally never thought of since they were friends and helping friends is what friends do.

After a while the choir took a small break, in which Nagisa approached Yaya and pulled her away from talking with Hikari. Once they were in a semi quiet location Nagisa gave the letter to Yaya and asked her to deliver it to Kaname. Yaya was a little confused, but shrugged it off saying she will. Nagisa gave Yaya a hug in thanks and walked off to wait.

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After dinner Kaname was walking off to her room without Momomi nearby. As she walked she felt a hand on her shoulder she looked behind and saw Yaya standing there with an outstretched letter with her name on it. She pulled it away from Yaya with an annoyed face and walked off without a thank-you. Once in her room, she opened the letter and read what was written.

_Dear Kenjo-san,_

_I received your letter and was grateful for it. I was wondering if we could talk tonight. I'll be up in the attic waiting for you at mid-night._

_Until then,_

_Aoi Nagisa_

A very small and almost unnoticeable smile appeared on Kaname's face.


	3. Chapter 3

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When she was in her room, Kaname did her homework and thought about her meeting with Nagisa. As she sat there, Momomi came and noticed a slight change in her lover, but she couldn't put her finger on it. Shrugging she went over to Kaname and wrapped her arms around Kaname's neck from behind and kissed her on the cheek. Kaname looked towards the clock to see what time it was. It was about three hours before she had to meet the red head.

She gave her attention to Momomi and as she turned around in her seat. Immediately, she her her lips were being seized by the brunette's. Eventually she found herself on the bed naked, being pleased by her lover. After much heat and exhaustion from their love making, Momomi fell asleep. Tired herself, Kaname stood up and pulled on some clothes. She checked the time. Dang! She thought as she saw it was five after twelve. Quietly and hurriedly she made her way towards the attic.

Once by the pull down stairs, she gave a little prayer in hopes Nagisa was still there. As she entered the attic to her relief the redhead was. However, she didn't show how relieved she was, in fact she didn't what emotions to show.

Nagisa stood up from a crate she was sitting on and bowed to Kaname, "Thank-you."

Taken aback, Kaname did what came naturally, "Ha, I don't need your thanks."

Nagisa stood straight and stared at Kaname trying to figure her out. Kaname gave off the same sort of vibe like Shizuma, but it was a lot more… fiercer? Nagisa couldn't put a finger on it. "You may not want my thank-you, but you deserve it. Besides I should be asking your forgiveness."

Again the dark blunette was taken aback, "Why would you think of something stupid?"

"It was me who put my life in danger not you or your friend. If I didn't open my mouth to you and knew my place, then I wouldn't have angered you two in doing what you did."

Kaname couldn't believe her ears, but at the same time could considering Nagisa was almost exactly like she thought she would be, too kind hearted for her own good. Shaking head Kaname sat down on a different crate, "Don't flatter yourself, Aoi. You did what you thought you had to do besides you were the only one who stood up to us and thanks to you the play was a success."

Nagisa blushed, "I didn't do much."

Kaname narrowed her eyes, "You helped in bringing the crew together whole heartedly and you saved the play when you went on stage to fill in for Minamoto-san, when her ankle gave out after saving Otori from her misplace footing." A small smile appeared on her face as she thought about Amane almost embarrassing herself. Yet she also thought of Nagisa coming on stage looking so hot in Chikaru's red Carmen dress. The sight alone caught Kaname's breath away. Before that part, she thought how wonderful Momomi pulled off her part, but those thoughts were later replaced by the sudden appearance of Nagisa on stage in that dress. Aside from how hot she looked, she was impressed and amazed at how great Nagisa acted. The whole stage scene was what kept her up at night.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Nagisa, "You don't like Aname-chan, do you?"

Kaname glanced at Nagisa, wondering what the girl was thinking. "It's complicated," she stated simply. Didn't like to discuss her feelings openly, but somehow she felt like being semi-truthful to Nagisa.

Nagisa would have pushed, but thought better of it. She knew if she said the wrong thing it could tick off Kaname, she didn't want that. Changing the subject she said, "I don't want to take up too much of your time, but I want you to know, I forgive you."

Just like earlier, Kaname was amazed at Nagisa's kind heart. She wanted to say thank-you, but her pride got the better of her. "Whatever."

Knowing it was the best she could get out of her Nagisa bowed once more and headed for the attic stairs, "Goodnight, Kenjo-san."

Kaname felt irritated at the fact Nagisa was leaving her. She was frustrated. Getting slightly angry she didn't something that she didn't expect to do, "Aoi," she called.

Nagisa turned around to look at her, "Hai?"

"Aoi, could we meet tomorrow at the library by the big stain glass window?"

Nagisa was emotionless for a moment , which turned to unease, but a small smile appeared on her face, "Okay, until tomorrow." She snuck away to get back to her leaving Kaname there thinking about her actions for the past couple of days.

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><p>AN: The Kaname in my story might seem to be out of character, but it's been a while since I've seen SP. So I'm not into Kaname's mind, but my mind was also thinking about the light novels/manga and she wasn't as devious in those as in the anime. She was just a love struck fan girl of Aname, who at one point was the leader of an Aname gaurd. Plus she did teach Hikari how to dance, but didn't put any moves on her. The fact is in the light novels she did not interact too much with Momomi until much later.

Plug in SP complete light novel collection is coming out June 7, 2011.

The Carmen arch was one of favorite parts in the series and the only real inter action between her and Nagisa. Though I must admit I thought about a three way between Momomi and Nagisa and Kaname, but I couldn't do it. Monogamy is my thing.

Oh this is my second fan-fiction so I'm not use to the genre.


	4. Chapter 4

Okay, I hope I did better in representing Kaname in the chapter. My Kaname description will now be on my profile to those who are interested in looking at it.

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She found herself pacing back and forth in front of the stain glass window with great agitation. It's been fifteen minutes and so far no sign of the red head. Kaname was starting to curse herself at how foolish she was being in trying to get close to the red read. What's even worse is that she was trying to befriend a Miator student. Except at joint council meetings or events like the play, she doesn't really associate with anyone outside her school.

Inwardly she screamed that she would even be attracted to the red head. She started to question her type or if she had one. She knew she was attracted to Amane. The hose loving girl was cool and aloof, not to mention handsome. Then on the other hand, she was attracted to Momomi, who was very feminine looking. However, despite her girliness she was more of a guy on the inside, after all she was the seme in the relationship.

That thought alone caused Kaname to stop in mid step to look at herself. She had prided herself as being an andronous figure, but to consider herself as the uke, the feminine one, totallhy blew her mind. She thought on the red head again and the red dress. The thought brought a smile on her face as she thought that Nagisa was very feminine. Perhaps with her, Kaname would fulfill her image of looking like the seme in a relationship. It was at that point, she realized that she liked the red head in some way, aside from attraction.

As lost in her thoughts as she were, her body jumped, when someone behind her spoke, "Kenjo-san!" in a heavy-panting loud whisper.

Startled, she turned around to see a red-faced red head, who seemed to be out of breath from running there. Kaname didn't know if she wanted to slap Nagisa upside the head for being inconsiderate or embrace the girl for actually showing up. Instead of doing either she did nothing.

Nagisa gave a small smile and said, "I'm sorry I didn't come on time, it's just… I was fighting on whether I wanted to come or not."

Miffed and confused, Kaname said, "If you didn't want to come you should have said something yesterday."

Nagisa flinched, "I know, but it seemed as if you wanted to see me again." After a moment of thought she continued, "Why is that?"

Kaname laughed a little wickedly, "I'm Kenjo Kaname and I do what I please without giving explainations."

That statement confused Nagisa more as she asked, "Are you trying to sound like Shizuma-sama?"

The taller girl's eye brows furrowed, "Don't you dare compare me with Hanazono, I am way better than she is."

Nagisa let out a giggle, making Kaname angry, but she also found the laughter kind of sweet and innocent. Trying to change the subject, Kaname commanded, "Enough of the smirking. Tell me, how you finally came to the conclusion to come?"

"I told you I'll come and I have. I keep my word."

_Typical_, thought Kaname. "Why were you reluctant to come?" The taller girl knew a few of the answers which Nagisa was bound to come up with.

"Um, at first I was kinda of uneasy about the place you chose to met at?"

"How come?"

Nagisa smiled knowing Kaname would not like the answer. "Well, during my first couple of week here I ran from a tense situation towards the library. After entering, I was approached by Shizuma. At first I was worried at what she might do to me. Surprisingly I found myself hot and bothered by her advances. We almost kissed. Honestly, I never knew I could feel like that for another girl."

"Ah, you're first lesbian attraction," smirked Kaname with an edge.

Nagisa smiled, "I should also admit the scene took place right here." She glanced at the stain glass as a thought crossed her mind. Turning towards Kaname, she asked, "You like girls, right?"

Kaname's eyes looked lustful as she smiled a slight half smile, "There's nothing better than the curves of a woman. Might I also add that you have some find curves."

Nagisa blushed as her eyes grew wide. She had never had someone talk to her like this before, not even from Shizuma. "Kenjo-san?"

Kaname approached Nagisa and placed a finger to her lips, "Aoi, call me Kaname."

On protective instinct Nagisa backed away, "Um, that's another reason I didn't want to come. I might have forgiven you for the whole before-the-play thing, but you did try to…" she gulped and grew shy. "you know…with Hikari-chan."

Kaname couldn't keep a smile from forming on her face, "Well, I couldn't help myself with that one. I wanted to see what Otori found in the blond on. I have to admit she's too sweet for my taste."

"So, you never really liked her?"

"Nope, not one ibt. I just wanted to torture Otori a bit."

"That's horrible!" exclaimed the red head.

"I know," smirked the tall one.

At this Nagisa once again furrowed her eye brows, "You… I don't understand why you're bothering to be with me. I'm not devious as you. I'm only here thinking you might have changed in some way, but I'm wrong. Maybe we should just end with the whole forgiveness and call it 'it.'"

The feeling of horror caught Kaname off guard. She found that she liked teasing the red head and seeing her facial expressions. They were kind of cute. And to lose that would be horrible. "I told you, I get what I want and what I want is to be with you."

Confusion took over the red head again, "So, you want to be my friend."

"I wouldn't say 'friend,' but I do want to spend time with you."

Nagisa found that she couldn't refuse, "Okay, um, do you want to sit with me at dinner tonight?"

Kaname also blanched and shook her head, "I rather not and keep our relationship a secret for now."

"How come?" asked Nagisa.

"Let's say, I have a certain reputation to up hold."

"So, you're embarrassed to be seen with me." Somehow Nagisa choked up on this thought. It was one of her worse fears of being in the school, where at times she felt like she never lived up to the standards of the school.

"A little," admitted the elder girl, "but also I don't think Etoile-sama would appreciate me being around her pet. She might think I'm trying to corrupt you or some such rot. I might not like the woman, but I respect her."

"Why don't you like Shizuma-sama?"

Kaname's eyes narrowed, "Territorial really. She is like a she-wolf and I'm more of a she-fox. Might I add a very sexy she-fox."

Nagisa couldn't help but laugh at Kaname's self-confidence. Again it angered Kaname. It was strange to her to think someone could laugh at her. Hardly anyone did it. Yet somehow, it sort of endeared her more towards the red.

"Stop laughing," ordered Kaname.

"I'm sorry," said Nagisa calming down, "But you're funny Kaname."

This was horrible news to the elder girl. No one in their right mind would could Kaname funny. Kaname once again looked at Nagisa and wanted to know more behind those sparkling red eyes.


	5. Chapter 5

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Both Kaname and Nagisa kept up their secret meetings for the next two weeks at odd times as to not draw too much suspicion from other people. Nagisa was happy to have made a new friend, but she had mixed emotions. Basically the idea of a secret friend was rather awesome, but the fact it had to be a secret was rather worrisome to keep on. Nagisa had a hard time keeping secrets and this friendship was taxing on her.

As for Kaname, she found herself a new obsession. Maybe not quite an obsession, it's more of a friendly and almost healthy distraction. Her daily routine of stalking Aname, which how she knew so much about Aname to know she was in love. The idea of the prince of Spica being in love some sickening sweet girl was starting to be less overwhelming or more like she was starting not to care. However, due to Momomi constant reminders and such, Kaname found that she was starting to just play along.

It was a Saturday, were they had no school work. They decided to have a picnic back behind the church. Thanks to the Yaya/Hikari situation, Nagisa knew this place was pretty much unoccupied by traffic of people and at the same time it was very beautiful and peaceful. Yet this wasn't this picnic wasn't the first time Nagisa and Kaname came to this spot, as it was perfect from prying eyes.

All they had to eat was some fruit sandwiches which Nagisa made. After eating they laid on the ground to look at the passing of the clouds. It was quiet for a few minute before Kaname asked, "Aoi, I've been meaning to ask what do you have against my beauty?"

Nagisa laughed, "I have nothing against your beauty."

"Then why is it everything time I mention how desirable I am, you go off laughing?"

Nagisa sat up, "Because I find it funny that you would speak so highly of yourself. It's rather hard to take you seriously."

At this Kaname sat up and stared at Nagisa, "You know I flirted with a few girls and they fell like putty in my hands, except for Otori's blond, but that's only because her heart chose Aname. I know am very beautiful, but you made me question myself."

This time it was Nagisa who stared at Kaname, "You are very beautiful. You call yourself the sun, but your beauty is more like the moon: glowing, but dark and mysterious. I could find you easily attractive, but your rudeness from the beginning was a turn off, plus the knowledge of your past deeds with Hikari-chan… you're too into yourself to actually pay attention to others. Your vainness is your down fall."

In silence the older girl thought about what the red head spoke. "So, if I wasn't rude and didn't do those things to blondie, would you have fallen to my charm?"

Nagisa gave a smile, "I'm sort of together with Shizuma and she has to be the most beautiful person in all three schools, no offense."

"I will take offense," huffed Kaname.

Shrugging Nagisa went on, "Shizuma's eyes had a power to entrance me. I've never meet anyone who could do that to me. It fact it was kind of scary, but I think it was also due to the fact I had found another girl attractive. I've never thought I could feel that way for a girl."

Many questions entered Kaname's mind at this point; however, she could understand how Nagisa could have been scared for her attraction to females. She wouldn't admit out loud, but she sort of went through the same thing. Getting out of her head Kaname asked, "So, Etoile-sama had a power over you. What happened that she lost it?"

Another smile formed on Nagisa's lips, "Two things: I got use to it and I got to know her; although she's still mystery to me. I mean I know she cares about me, but she keeps me at arms' length."

Quirking an eyebrow the taller one asked, "What do you mean?"

A slight blush formed of the red heads cheeks as she pondered how to phrase something. In the mean time the eldest couldn't help but wonder mischievously at what embarrassing thoughts were going through Nagisa's head. "Um, I should say that attraction was something new, but when I got to know Shizuma more, I realized that I liked her and when I went to summer school I was lonely without her. At that time I didn't understand what is was that I was feeling. I told Shizuma about how I like being with her, she told me she felt the same. Eventually, we ended up kissing in the pool." She paused to smile at herself, but frown after words. "I was confused. I liked the kiss, but it was with a girl. _Shouldn't I be kissing boys,_ I thought at the time. We ended up in Shizuma's room, taking separate showers, when things just got confusing as I found myself flat on my back on her bed. She crawled her me. At the time I couldn't believe what was happening. My mind was like we're both girls. Can two girls have sex? Am I really doing this? Scared as I was mentally, my body was doing something different as if it wanted what was coming. Just as she was pulling down my dress she stopped and a tear dripped from her eyes. Feeling both disappointed and relieved, I ran out, but after that day nothing physical has happened between us. Except for some hand holding, we don't do anything else. It's almost as if she's afraid of touching me."

Many feelings ran over Kaname. There was some jealousy towards Shizuma who also took sweet Nagisa's virginity. There was anger that she-wolf didn't because she had let such a good opportunity go to waste. The girl was also confused since it is rumored that Shizuma sleeps around a lot and her not sleeping with the red head was seemingly unheard of. Plus there were a few more feelings, but being the shallow person she is, Kaname tried to repress those other emotions. Instead she forced on Nagisa's none sex life.

"It sounds as if you're disappointed that Shizuma hasn't made a move on you?"

Nagisa flushed, "Perhaps a little, if she were to come to me, I would go along with it. I like her a lot."

Laughing evilly the older girl commented, "So you're sexually frustrated."

Nagisa narrowed her eyes at Kaname fighting the urge to hit her, "So what?"

Kaname slid closer to Nagisa and pushed her to the ground. The red head laid on her back as the taller one was on her side half covering the other. Both girls looked into each other eyes as gently Kaname placed a hand on the other's cheek. "Maybe I can help." Finally being proactive in something, the girl placed her lips against Nagisa's. She knew she like the girl and kissing said girl would be fun, but she didn't except how tasty the cherry red lips of the red head were. They were electric, more spark then even Momomi could muster, which was saying quite a bit since Momomi was a fantastic kisser.

As they kiss, Kaname licked the other's girl's lips in hopes of drinking deeper. The action was automatic as Nagisa felt the other girl's tongue with her own. Being captured in the moment Nagisa placed a hand on Kaname's shoulder as said girl slid her hand away from the red head's cheek. Since it was Saturday, they didn't have to wear school uniforms, so the older girl found her hand inside the smaller girl's shirt, sliding it up until…

In a panic with everything around, Nagisa pushed Kaname away. The older girl reluctantly complied and looked at Nagisa, who turned her head away. "I'm sorry," came red, "I can't do this. It's not that I don't like you, but I like Shizuma." In a rush the younger girl gather up everything, "I'm sorry I have to go."

In that same afternoon, in Spica's common/study room sat Shion, the school's study body president. She was looking over the rules and other information for the upcoming Eloite elections. As she read the sounds of footsteps came rushing towards her. Looking up from her papers, the president saw a frustrated Momomi staring at her. "Can I help you?"

Agitated Momomi said, "Yes, have you seen Kaname around?"

On instinct, Shion looked around room, but didn't see thing out of the ordinary. After the glance Shion gave her attention back to Momomi, "I haven't. Is there something wrong?"

Momomi looked down at her president trying to conclude if she should say anything to the girl, "Nothing much, but Kaname seems to be going off on own for the last couple of weeks."

At this the president became extremely interested. Even if she's tough as nails it didn't mean that she was uncaring for her fellow students. The fact is she did care, but like her other two council members she was selfish, not only for herself, but for her school. Her biggest flaw is that she wanted to build up a good reputation for herself to make her appear all shiny. Thus getting Aname into the competition was important.

Shaking that away she looked intensely at the small brunette, "That is something to be concern about."

Momomi looked at her questionably, but shook it out. "I know, most of the time she's pretty honest, but lately she's been hiding something from me."

"What do you think it is?"

Momomi shrugged, "I don't know, but I hope she hasn't been cheating on me."

The president nodded, "I agree that would be bad."

Shook took hold of the council member, "Why would you say that?"

"I see the way you two inter act as if you fit perfectly together like Haruka and Michiru."

Eyes went wide as saucers. "Did you just compare Kaname and me as Sailor Scouts?"

Shion nodded. Unknown to most people, Shion was a closet okatu, her main interest was in yuri and shoujo-ai. "Indeed I did."

Angered Momomi demanded, "How on earth are we anything like those two?"

Smiling brightly Shion was glad to explain, "The two of you are inseparable like Neptune and Mercury. You're feminine like Michiru and Kaname is sort of Haruka good at sports and have a masculine feel. The both of you are rather glamorous like those Sailor Scouts and you both hold a lone outsider demeanor from everyone else. There's also a manner of a lot of pride and also hidden agendas which coincide with someone else's plan."

Momomi gulped as if afraid that Shion knew about the dark brunette and her. To get away from any more comparisons Momomi asked, "What if Kaname and I are like those outer rimmed sailors, then why is she running by herself instead of being by my side."

Thinking intensely, Shion came up with an answer, "There's only one person who could possibly get in between Haruka and Michiru."

Waiting on bated breath, Momomi asked, "Who is that?"

"There's only one other person who Haruka could give her heart to and if that person was available, Haruka could probably pounce on it. That person is Usagi."

Pressing her on needle edge, Momomi calmed down and sweetly asked for confirmation at what she thought Shion was getting at…"So you're saying, Kaname has found her Usagi?"

Shion nodded.

At this Momomi was horror struck. "Who hell could be my Kaname's Usagi?"


	6. Chapter 6

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The leaves of the trees had turned colors for the fall and since the last time Kaname had had any contact with the red head. For Momomi, who had yet to found out who Kaname was spending her time with, it was a good thing. The brunette had rejoiced when her lover had stopped running off to who knows where. She also liked how Kaname seemed to be the same as always, moody, but maybe more so. She knew something was wrong with her though, but she concluded that it had something to do with Amane. Or she would have firmly concluded it was because of Amane, but she couldn't help but ponder over her conversation with Shion.

The brunette liked her blonde president well enough, but she didn't like how the girl was so obsessed with Amane like her lover was. _Why is it that it's always Amane?_ Although Momomi was pretty popular and many people liked her beauty, she hated the fact that most of her peers would rather faint at the sight of Amane instead of her. Of course, she also thought the Amane fans should have treated her Kaname with much passion. On the other hand, she would have been jealous as well because didn't want anyone to take away her love, respect her, yes, want as a lover, no.

Although she loved the taller girl immensely, she also hated that the fact that Kaname seemed think about Amane a great deal and knew so much about her. Somehow it disturbed her, but she had let it passed with how Kaname explained how she just wanted to keep an eye on the competition. The fact is Momomi did indeed want to be Etoile with Kaname. She thought it would be a brilliant way to get closer to her girl and rub Amane's face in it. Most importantly, she had hoped it would ease her lover's mind to where the short haired girl would stop being so obsessed with the Prince of Spica. She knew her reasons were selfish, but she didn't care, well almost didn't. She still respected the title of Etoile and what it stood for, but it was the furtherest thing from her mind.

The thing which kept occupying her mind the most was Kaname and her unusual demeanor with addition to what Shion had said. She thought of all the girls who might have caught her lover's eye, but the only one who stood out to be the most logical choice was Amane's Hikari. _The girl is cute, I'll give you that, but she seems too needy. Oh, and her voice is just too dang high that it makes my skin crawl. Her hair is lovely and she has a certain innocent about her, making her too sweet and me going into a sugar coma. I don't believe Kaname would fall for a girl like her. Besides, Kaname is far too much woman for the likes of such a pansy; she needs someone like me._

Those were the thoughts that passed through Momomi during the time Kaname resumed her usual actions. As for the Kaname herself, she hated herself for even getting involved with the red head. Try as she might, she couldn't figure out what she really wanted with her. At first it was just to apologize. However, when she had been forgiven, she found she wanted to spend more time with the girl. Soon it began to totally mess with her mind.

She knew she had Momomi as a lover, but she knew she didn't love her fully, since had a huge crush on Amane, to whom she would have given anything to be with her once, yet she knew it was pointless. The fact is she did her best in everything just so Amane would notice her; the horse back rider was completely oblivious to it all. She had her own things to worry about. Her crush turned into distain for the Prince. She had put all her frustration out on Momomi, or more like into Momomi sexually; she knew she wasn't being fair to both Momomi and herself, but she couldn't stop.

Her mind had thought on these things mostly, but as well as a little on Hikari. She didn't like the girl at all, because just looking at such an angelic girl made the tall blunette realized why Amane would never choose her; she just wasn't Amane's type. Her attempts to "woo" the choir singer made her angrier, because the young blonde only had eyes for the Prince. Although she had attempted rape a few times, she could bring herself to actually do it, because thoughts of how Amane would be upset got in the way. If Hikari had agreed, it would have been a different matter altogether.

This was her before the red head came into her life. The red head had provided a way for her to escape her world of confusion, hate, and hidden sadness. At one point, she might have put Nagisa in a group with Hikari, but Nagisa was different than Hikari. The Spica girl saw in the girl a bit of herself in the lines of confusion and hidden sadness, but she also saw how the girl was able to cope with it all. Somehow she found it awe inspiring.

During the weeks she was with the red head, she pulled out all stops to find out more about the girl. What she found out was that the girl could be considered popular. With her great love, she was able to befriend people for all three schools. Those she did befriend respected her and loved her. _She's like a little princess_ Kaname had thought. Unlike Hiakri who would have liked to stay in the shadows, Nagisa stood out like the sun. _Ah, the sun! _Another thing about the red head was that she always seemed willing to help out. Of course, she had seen this during the play, but at the time it never really registered in her brain.

She truly did like the girl because it was refreshing like drinking lemonade on a hot day. During her time with the red head, she did occasionally think about how nice it would be to kiss the girl, but she had fought it since she knew the heart of the red head belonged to Shizuma. She knew Shizuma since she was small, or course anyone who lived on Astraea Hill knew Shizuma. In a sense, Kaname wanted to place Shizuma with being another Amane in her life, but she couldn't. She knew about Shizuma and Kaori and whatever pain the older girl was going through. Somehow, she couldn't think about taking Nagisa away from Shizuma. If there was a girl who could heal the Etoile's heart, it would have been the red head. The other thing about why Kaname couldn't compare Shizuma to Amane was due to the fact that Shizuma was the Etoile. A title she truly respected, but never forgot the great importance it was for the three schools. Being in the Student Body Council had given her a way to help protect the scared title of Etoile. She wanted the title, but only if she could be paired with Amane. No one else would do. She felt terrible for leading Momomi on.

After about two weeks of losing touch with the red head, Kaname had found herself wondering alone through one of the many short hiking trails of Astraea Hill. Momomi had been a bit too clingy to her and started bothering her. She knew her lover was not that sort of person, but Kaname also figured the shorter girl deserved the extra attention since she's been avoiding her since beginning to see Nagisa. However, she needed to get away from her for a moment of thinking.

At the moment, her mind thought on Nagisa again. It racked her mind so much as to think that her short friendship with the girl would have affected her life so much, but wasn't that it alone. No, her mind was remembering the kiss she had given Nagisa. It was so much different from kissing Momomi, who was rather an aggressive kisser. The kiss with the red head was sweet and gentle; it also stoked within her a fire. With Momomi, she had sparks galore, but never a raging inferno like the kiss with Nagisa was. _Maybe it's the red hair._ If anything, she knew she had very strong feelings for the girl, and they were enough to put the whole Amane thing aside.

As she kept walking down the path, her eyes caught hold of a distant figure. At first, she didn't know who she was seeing, until she noticed blazing red hair. Her heart pounded in her chest in anticipation. Her steady pace grew quicker as she longed to approach the figure for comfirmation. The closer they came together, the more she realized that the girl was who she thought she was, just by the girl's hair style and Miator clothes. Although this should have thrilled her more, she grew uneasy as she noticed how Nagisa had held her head down as if burdened by something.

Anxiety gripped the older girl's heart as she rushed towards the girl, who she still couldn't make her mind up about except she truly cared for her. When within arms' reach, Kaname grabbed a hold the girl's shoulders and brought her into her. The smaller girl seemed to accept the embrace, but her body quaked, "Nagisa, what's wrong?"

The red head refused to say anything or even to look up at the girl holding her. Her stubbornness frustrated the taller girl. Calming down, Kaname grabbed hold of the red head's chin and forced her to look at her. Upon seeing the girl's eyes, a great pressure gripped the Spica girl's heart. Nagisa's eyes were distant and full of sadness; they looked as if she was almost lost. Her cheeks streaked with tears.

"What happened? Please tell me." There was a hint of franticness in Kaname's voice which stirred something in the red head.

It took great energy before Nagisa could answer, but when she did, it was in only a small voice, "Shi…Shizu…Shizuma,…she…she…there's no room for me in her life." Emotionally tired, she collapsed in Kaname's arms.

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><p>AN: I know it's been a while since I last up dated this, but I do have other things to do as well. Oh, I am also sorry if this was boring, but my focus for this chapter was to get into the minds of Kaname and Momomi. When I talk about torture, I'm talking about mental and emotional torture. For this chapter, I thought on the episode with the duel. The next one shouldn't be as boring.


	7. Chapter 7

The Spica girl's emotions were frantic, but her movements were anything but. With as much grace and care as she could, Kaname hefted the red head on to her back. She was surprised to find how light Nagisa was concerning how many sweets she eats. Aside from the shock, Kaname started her trek back towards Strawberry Dorms.

Along the way, Kaname couldn't help but notice the warmth coming from the girl's body. With her arms around Kaname's face, they made it easier for the older girl to take in her scent. _She smells sweet and mouth watering_. Realizing what she was thinking, Kaname changed her thought into pondering on Nagisa's currant state. She couldn't fathom why the red head would be out wondering through the woods, and how the Miator girl ended up it this sad state. From what little she had heard from Nagisa, she knew it had to be Shizuma's doing. Anger curled in Kaname's gut as she thought on how unjustly the Etoile must have treated the girl on her back. She wanted to find out why the girl was so devastated and broken, but she would let in rest while she walked on. Her anger kept her going as she wanted to hurt whoever hurt Nagisa.

During her walk, she realized she was developing some over protective feelings for the red head and it shocked her. Never before had she wanted to protect a person. She surely never wanted to protect Amane nor Momomi; well, she knew Momomi was a big girl, who could take of herself. As for Amane, it seemed as if no one really wanted to touch her. However, Nagisa was different. She was so much more emotional and showed so much more love towards people. Somehow, Kaname couldn't help but think that Shizuma had taken advantage of it or whoever else got close to the red head. Mostly she took anger out on Shizuma trying to figure out ways she would torture the Etoile, despite her respect for the girl which seemed to be dwindling to nothing. Due to her wandering thoughts, it surprised her that it didn't take her as long as she thought it would to arrive at the Strawberry Dorms when it came into sight.

When she was just inside the gates, she beheld two figures running straight for her. It took a moment to realize who they were. The one she was more familiar with as Miyuki, who had stopped her before she reached the steps leading up towards the dorm's front doors. The other one she knew as Suzumi Tamao, the writer of the play _Carmen, _who had rounded behind her to check on her friend Nagisa. The girl was still unconscious.

"Kenjo-san, what have you done to Nagisa-chan?" asked Tamao rather rudely. Unlike Miyuki, Tamao knew about the incident between Hikari and Kaname. The poet couldn't help but not trust any of the older girl's actions.

"I've done nothing to her," Kaname bit back. "I'll explain later, just let me take her to her bed."

Miyuki moved out of the way as she went to hold the door open for Kaname entrance. It took a little effort and some spotting while climbing stairs, but Kaname had managed to take Nagisa to her room. Tamao unlocked the door and reluctantly allowed the Spica girl to deposit the red head carefully on her bed.

Being out of breath, Kaname ended up on the floor in a heap while Tamao took the red head's boots off and Miyuki checked to see if Nagisa had a temperature or not. Sadly, there was a hint of a fever as well as a look of exhaustion. Knowing the red head was warm, Miyuki went into the bed to get a cold damp cloth for the fever ridded girl. Once placing the cool cloth on Nagisa's head, Miyuki turned towards Kaname with serious eyes, "Could you explain now what happened?"

Resting her back on Tamao's bed, Kaname answered, "I was walking through the woods when I spotted her alone. She looked at if someone beat the crap out of her. From the kindness of my heart…"

"Ha," laughed Tamao, "as if you had any kindness in you."

Kaname shot the girl a glare, "Shut up you, before I make you shut up."

"Why you…"

"Quiet both of you!" demanded Miyuki, who had no time for them to get into an argument. "Tamao-san, let Kenjo-san finish."

Still angry, Tamao could only nod her head.

Kaname broke up her staring contest with Tamao to look at Nagisa before continuing on. "Honestly, I don't think she would have cared who she ran into, but she ran into my arms and started crying. During her sobbing, she said that Shizuma had no room for her. She collapsed soon after. I might be known for not caring and most of the time I don't, but I couldn't just let her on the ground." She gave as pause to consider more words to speak. Instead she settled on, "It should bring us up to date."

Miyuki fell on Tamao's bed, shaking her head as if she held regret. "I thought she was the one," she managed to say after a while.

"What are you talking about?" asked Kaname, who figured she knew the answer already, but just wanted to make sure.

"The one, who could bring the real Shizuma back," explained Miyuki.

Kaname just nodded her head, "Not like I care or anything, but do you any idea how Aoi-san ended up this way?"

The Miator Student Body President looked at Kaname, "Someone told her about how there are two people who were elected to be Etoile together. Since she knew of only Shizuma, she asked around to know who the other Etoile was. No one told her anything, including Tamao-san here. She came to me, but I told her it would be best if Shizuma explained things to her. I approached Shizuma about it, and she thought the time was right to discuss it with Nagisa-san. Then yesterday, they went to Shizuma's summer home, a part of me thought it was a bad idea, but I didn't listen to myself. I hoped for a healing process would happen." She sighed again.

"Don't beat yourself up over it," Kaname consoled her. "Anyone with a heart would have done the same thing."

Miyuki gave a light-hearted half smile.

"So, I take it Shizuma-sama told her about Sakuragi Kaori," deducted Kaname. Her state wasn't a question. So she didn't expect when Miyuki replied.

"Yes and no."

The Spica girl looked at the other girl as if she lost her mind. _How could Rojuko-san know what happen between them at Etoile's summer home? _ "How would you know?" she said out loud.

"Shizuma had called me this morning, letting me know that she had mentioned Kaori to Nagisa-san but didn't give her the whole story. She also asked if I could keep an eye out for Nagisa since she left the summer house without saying a word."

_No wonder the girl collapsed. It was from exhaustion. _"Did she run after her?"

"I don't think so."

Anger once again flared in Kaname, "How dare that woman not run after her?"

Both Tamao and Miyuki were surprised by the Spica girl's outburst. "Why are you upset?" asked Tamao, feeling upset herself.

"I'm enraged that _woman_ would let the red headed brat go like that. If she truly loved Aoi-san there, she should have run after her, tackled her to the ground and let her know, 'I love you.'"

"Ha, ha, ha," laughed Tamao. "Didn't you do something like that with Hikari?"

With more wrathe burning her up inside, Kaname stood up and grabbed Tamao off of Nagisa's bed. In a low and menacing voice, she growled, "Don't judge me, Suzumi. You have no idea what you're talking about. If you speak to me like you did, I'll make sure you'll never write a single thing ever again."

Both blunettes looked into each other's eyes almost willing to burn the others'. Kaname pushed Tamao to the ground and stormed out of the room.

Miyuki was divided between going after the Spica girl and checking to see how Tamao was. She decided to do the latter as she took hold of Tamao's arm and helped her to her feet. "What do you think that was about?" asked Tamao.

"I have no idea," Miyuki honestly replied. "But if I were you, I would watch I what say around her. She's not one to play fair."

"I guess you're right," admitted Tamao as the fear of the threat Kaname gave her scared her. Leaving her anger mingled with fear at the door, Tamao sat down next to Nagisa. Very gently, she undid Nagisa's hair so the girls could rest more comfortably. Miyuki had watched it all; she hadn't left because she felt like she had to stay and clean up after Shizuma.

As Tamao smoothed out Nagisa's hair, the red head started mumbling. Curious, the poet leaned her head down to listen closely to what her friend was saying. Her eyes grew wide when she made out one word, "Kaname."


	8. Chapter 8

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The Spica girl walked swiftly and gracefully to her dorm room; where in herself, she felt like screaming her head off. It hurt her. She knew she shouldn't have lost it back there, but she couldn't help it. Tamao's dislike for her only added to her own guilt. She felt frustrated with Shizuma's actions, since they sort of mirrored her own from a few weeks ago. She had let Nagisa go then, but at that time she knew she had no right to run after her. The red head's heart wasn't hers nor did she think Nagisa had wanted it. However, at the moment, it hurt her to see the bright and cheery red head in such anguish.

Upon entering her room, she did the only thing she could think of to take her built up aggression on. She found Momomi lying on the bed studying from a book. Upon approaching the brunette, Kaname grabbed the book away from Momomi and tossed it over on her bed. Momomi looked at Kaname a little confused, but at the same time a little excited. The taller girl pressed her lips against the other's all the while thinking about Nagisa.

Thank goodness it was a Sunday, since it was pretty early in the morning.

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As soon as Nagisa's little fever broke, she woke up. She was startled by seeing where she was. It somewhat frightened her to see she was in her room lying on her bed because she had no idea how she ended up there. She sat up in bed only to be immediately approached by a relieved Tamao, who threw her arms around her.

"Thank goodness, you're okay," said Tamao.

"Tamao-chan, how did I end up here?"

"Um," the poet was a little hesitant to tell the truth, but she hardly ever lied to Nagisa before, "Kenjo-san." She waited for some sort of reaction out of Nagisa, but got nothing except for a nod of the head.

"Tamao-chan?" began Nagisa.

"Yes?"

"I'm sorry if I've been a burden to you."

Her roommate was aghast at what she heard. "Nagisa-chan, you are never a burden to me. What made you think you were?" Tamao wanted to blame it on Kaname's influence.

"From the first day I arrived here, I've caused you nothing but worry."

"Yes, but I've never had so much fun." Tamao leaned down and hugged her friend again. "Trust me; you're no burden to me."

"Ah, you're just being nice," said Nagisa, feeling a little awkward at the moment.

Tamao pushed away from her, "I'll always be nice to you. We've friends after all." She smiled and stood up. Reluctantly, she walked to the door, "I have to go for a moment."

"Why?"

"Miyuki-san asked me to tell her when you were awake. She had planned on staying here until you woke up, but she was called away. There was something she would like to discuss with you."

"Okay," the red head said as she lay back down.

Shortly after, Miyuki came in without Tamao on her heels. As Nagisa rested her back on the wall, Miyuki grabbed a chair and brought it over. The older girl inquired after Nagisa's health and asked if she could explain the whole story about Kaori. Nagisa nodded out of curiousity, although she feared what would be said.

With approval, Miyuki went on to explain how both she and Shizuma had met Kaori. The story progressed to how Shizuma and the underclassman drew close to one another and fell in love. Eventually, it led to how they found out how sick Kaori was and how she didn't have much longer to live. Eventually, Miyuki reached the part where Shizuma and Kaori had entered the Etoile competition and won; however, not long afterwards Kaori died leaving a heartbroken Shizuma behind.

Nagisa's heart grew with grief as cried her heart out. Being filled with compassion for the younger girl, Miyuki embraced her. While being embraced by Miyuki, Nagisa let her mind and her heart grow wild with grief. She may be naïve in a lot of things, but she knew that any type of death usually leaves behind a tight bond with the living. Of course, this bond is usually formed when the person, who is living, truly knew and loved the person who is dead. This type of bond is harder to get over then any other. Although she never lost anyone who she was in love with, she had lost someone, the only grandfather she had ever known and loved, who had practically raised her. His death had left her hollow inside, but she found she couldn't dwell on it since her grandfather wouldn't want her to. Even though she tried to get over it, there were times where she would still grieve for the man.

Needless to say, she stayed in bed the rest of the day, not feeling very hungry.

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Kaname paced around her room to calm her nerves down. She knew something had to be done. After her exercise with Momomi, she knew she couldn't go on like this any longer. She paused to look at the bathroom door. Behind it, Momomi was taking a shower. Before she went in, she asked her lover if she wanted to join her, but Kaname declined. The brunette had seemed a little hurt, but left any ways.

Kaname resumed her pacing again as she thought on what she would have to say to Momomi. She knew it would be tough on her friend, but it was the fair thing to do. Finding the right words was another thing. In her craziness of pondering and pacing, the time slipped by rather quickly to the blunette's surprise. Momomi exited the bathroom with just a robe on while dried her hair with a towel. She noticed the inner battle raging inside of Kaname. Until this time, she had never seen her look like that.

"What's wrong?"

Kaname stopped in her tracks and looked at Momomi, "What are your feelings for me?"

A smile had spread on Momomi's face, "What kind of question is that? I love you."

"In what way?"

The brunette raised an eye brow, "Kaname, we make love together and you ask what type of love I feel for you. Isn't obvious?"

"Hm." The taller girl scratched the back of her head, "Momomi, I love you, I do, but I'm not what you want me to be."

"What do you mean?" the other girl asked in alarm.

"Momomi, there's no one I would rather be with when it comes to scheming or talking about some of my frustrations, but I view you as my best friend. I'll admit I love being intimate with you, but there's something you need to know."

Feeling as if her happiness was being scrubbed away, Momomi sat on her bed, "What is it?"

"When it comes to the future, I never saw us together, being friends, yes, but not as a couple." She knelt in front of Momomi. Because she feared it would be mistaken for something else, she fought herself from grabbing the other girl's hands.

Momomi completely understand what was happening. Due to the intense atmosphere, she knew it could swing either bad or good, she was leaning towards bad. "What are you getting at?"

"What we did earlier? I shouldn't have done it."

The other girl's eyes narrowed, "How can you say that? Couldn't you feel our hearts connecting?"

"Our bodies might have connected, but my mind was far from you."

In anger, Momomi stood up pushing Kaname away, "If you weren't thinking about me, where were you thinking?"

"I…I…" Kaname didn't know what to say. She knew Momomi would get angry with her and if she were to know the truth, the brunette would probably seek vengeance on Nagisa. Since she didn't want to hurt Nagisa more, she refused to say anything.

When she didn't get a sound out of Kaname, Momomi threw out her own suspicions, "You were thinking about her, weren't you?"

"Her? Who are you talking about?"

"Don't play dumb with me, Kaname; you know who I'm talking about."

The taller girl held out her hands in defense, "I honestly don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh come on, you were thinking about Amane!" the other girl shouted.

The blunette stood up in surprise, "My mind was far from Amane. I'll admit I was as pathetic as those fan girls, but I'm over it."

"Then it must be, Hikari."

"Oh please, I'm too much woman for her to handle."

Momomi studied her with anger, "If it's none of them, who were you thinking about?"

Having known Momomi for years, Kaname wasn't going to fall into any of her tricks, "I'm not going to discuss this. I just wanted to let you know, that I can't sleep with you anymore, and I'm sorry for dragging this out for as long as I did. I should have put a stop to it years ago, but I couldn't. If you can ever find it in your heart to forgive me, I'll be willing to be your friend still."

Not wanting to argue any more, the taller girl walked out leaving behind a defeated Momomi.

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><p>AN: I thought I add this in: For the purpose of my story and to make it more effective, Tamao loves Nagisa as a friend only. She is just over protective. I didn't want to deal with the whole Tamao-in-love-with-Nagisa factor, it's not important to the story.


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: WARNING: The following is a little dark, but not really all that graphic, or at least I tried not to write it so. It might also show some ooc stuff, but it also shows some realism. The actions that Nagisa takes are more from what might have happened is she was pushed too much. I am sorry for those Nagisa lovers, but past this point it should became more lighter.

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Since her falling out with Momomi, Kaname had stayed away from approaching Nagisa. She didn't do it to be mean; she did it for the red head's safety. If there was one thing she knew about Momomi, it was the fact that the brunette could be very vindictive and scheming. Knowing this, she also was aware that Momomi would probably follow her every move just to see who the mystery girl was. However, being away from the red head and not knowing how she was doing drove her mad.

As for Momomi, she was heartbroken enough to not do anything. Basically, she was still in the denial phase. She just sulked away and glad that Kaname had given her space to think. However, she felt incomplete without the taller girl near.

As the brunette sat sulking again on one of the chairs in the study room, Shion approached her. From the sidelines, the blonde stood by witnessing the emotional roller coaster her fellow student council members were riding on. Besides concentrating on getting Aname into the Etoile competition, she was also worried about those she worked with. Until this time, she had wanted to approach both Momomi and Kaname, but she never could due to being busy with school things. So the moment seemed like the appropriate time to speak to at least one of them.

The blonde sat in a chair next to the grieving woman, "Momomi?"

It took a moment of no response before she finally looked at her student council president, "What do you want?"

"To talk to you," replied Shion.

The other girl glared daggers into her, "Maybe I don't want to talk."

"Talking helps to remove emotional stress," proclaimed the blonde. "What happened between you and Kaname this time?"

Momomi studied her student council president for a moment before saying anything, while she was trying to figure out whether or not she should say anything. She gave in, since Shion had been there for her earlier. "She's not in love with me."

The Spica's Student Council President wanted to reach out and touch the brunette to comfort her, but she couldn't yet. "I could have sworn she loved you."

"She does, but only as a friend, a friend with benefits."

"Ah, that's awful."

The other girl nodded. "What's worse, she doesn't trust me. I don't blame her, but still…"

"Why would think that?"

"She absolutely refused to tell me who she was in love with."

"Why?"

Momomi couldn't say anything to her president, since it wasn't really good. All her bad deeds were done behind Shion's back; somehow she didn't want the blonde to know of her transgressions or more like her evil side. Momomi knew once she snapped back to her old self, she would go and track down the girl who took Kaname away from her. Kaname had all right not to trust her, but it still hurt her to know that Kaname held so little trust for her.

"I can't say," she managed to say.

The president knew when not to press, instead she tried switching things up a bit, "Have you heard some of the gossip going around about Kaname?"

"What gossip?"

"Ah, apparently, Kaname was seen last week carrying Aoi Nagisa to Strawberry Dorms."

"Aoi Nagisa, the girl who replaced Chikaru-san as Carmen at the school festival?"

"That's her," Shion confirmed.

"And Kaname carried her to Strawberry Dorms?"

"Yes."

Momomi couldn't help but be confused. For Kaname to actually help someone else was really strange. Her ex-lover would only help someone else if it were for her own gain and not from the goodness of her own heart; well if she had a heart and Momomi believed the taller girl had none. Of course, she was only focus on the recent events.

Besides helping out, Kaname went and carried Aoi Nagisa, the brat who had been so self righteous at the play. Momomi had felt no guilt for her actions towards the girl, only anger. She remembered how Kaname had looked at the red head when she stepped into the role of Carmen. The blunette seemed impressed at the girl's acting ability. Momomi could have cared less then, but now... Suddenly, she thought about how she might have stumbled upon who had stolen the heart of her ex-lover. _Oh, how that girl is going to pay._

* * *

><p>For the past couple of days, Kaname had noticed a change in her ex-lover's demeanor as she sat across from her in the student council room. At first when she stopped sleeping with her, she only ever saw the brunette as being gloomy and irritated. However, her continence now looked smug and almost gleeful. Sadly, gloomy and irritated Momomi put Kaname more at ease than a Momomi who looked like the old cliché of a cat who caught the cannery. The look just stood out more prominent today.<p>

After a grueling meeting of discussing the events for the upcoming Etoile competition and Shion's frustration in not softening Amane's heart in competing in the event, Kaname approached Momomi in hallway. She pulled her towards a wall and looked into her eyes trying to read the girl's mind. The brunette did likewise.

A small smile formed on the smaller girl's face after some time had passed, "My, my, my, what do I owe the pleasure of your attention?"

The blunette smirked, "Well, friend, I couldn't keep my eyes off of you today."

"Oh, did you miss me?"

"Sister, you know how I love seeing you smile and you've been doing it quite a bit recently. You look beautiful when you do."

"Kaname, you flatter me too much." She touched the collar of the blunette's blazer and started rubbing it with her thumbs. "You know, if you miss my smile so much, I know how you can see it more often."

"Oh, I would be more than willing to learn how, but it seems as if you have already found something to make you smile."

"Are you curious?"

"Only a little," the blunette said. Of course, what she said was more than she let on.

Her ex-lover knew her well enough to know that what said was quite opposite of what she felt. Momomi couldn't help but giggle more, "Ah, dearest, I found that I discovered a new taste in the color red."

A sudden chill crept its way up Kaname's spine as she kept her usual cold front. "Is that so?" she asked as nonchalantly as possible.

Momomi waited and wanted to see something more coming off of her, but was disappointed in not seeing anything, yet still she kept her act on. "Yes, there's just something about the color which drives me wild."

"Good for you, maybe I should get you a red dress or something sometime."

"Sounds good, but only if you take me on a date," she replied.

Kaname smirked again, "Ah, you know I can't, love." She kissed Momomi on the cheek and left her standing there wondering what happened.

As for the blunette, the moment she left the school building, she dashed towards the Strawberry Dorms searching for the red head. Fear flooded her as she worried over the welfare of Nagisa. She checked her watch and saw it was not quite time for Tamao to return from poetry club. In her research of Nagisa, she also looked at those closest to her. Since her breakup with Shizuma and her friend being in poetry club, Nagisa had no one to spend time with. She hardly hung out with anyone else leaving Kaname to believe it would allow too much alone time for the red head.

Upon entering the dorm building, Kaname sprinted up the steps towards Nagisa's room. Reaching the dorm, she gave a knock on it and waited. No answer came. A sinking feeling gripped the older girl's stomach. Without knocking again, she opened the door and walked in, but found no one. She made turned to go, when she realized how strange it was for the door being unlocked. With one last look around the room, her eyes landed on the door to the bathroom. No hesitation was left as she took hold of the door handle and ripped it opened. The sight in the bathroom nearly ripped her heart out as she saw a naked Nagisa sitting on the floor of the shower bleeding from cuts on her arms. A blade was held in her hand as the water was spraying on the red head as it was washing her blood down the drain.

Kaname ran over towards the girl, turn off the shower and very carefully took the blade away from the dazed out Nagisa. She wanted to talk to her first, but checking her physical condition came first instead. Thankfully, Nagisa didn't cut anywhere near her wrists. They spread from near the inner elbows downwards on both arms. Some looked deeper than others. There were no signs of other cuts scars, but some were scabbed over as if this cutting business was a new development.

Pushing those thoughts away and without a moment to loose, the blunette grabbed two hand towels to cover the cuts and a larger one to cover the younger girl's nakedness. Once Kaname had wrapped Nagisa up, she took the girl out of the bathroom and rocked her in her arms.

"Aoi," she whispered. "Aoi."

The girl in her arms stirred some and looked up at who was holding her. "Kenjo-san?"

Both relief and anger filled Kaname, "Aoi, you stupid girl, what in hell's name possessed you in doing this to your body?"

Only silence came from Nagisa, who was ashamed about her actions and Kaname had finding out.

The older girl pulled the younger one out from her embrace and forced her to look into her eyes, "Tell me what's going on," she demanded.

"I'm no good," she cried.

"What do you mean you're no good?"

"I cause too much trouble for everyone. I try so desperately to make friends, but in the end, I only cause trouble for people. I feel so alone."

"You're not alone."

"How would you know? My parents don't want me around. All of grandparents are dead."

"I only stand your grandparents, but what are you talking about with your parents?"

Nagisa let her tears fall down from her eyes, "From the moment I was born, they kept running away from me. Most of life was spent being raised by the only grandfather I've ever known. My parents would only visit me like one a year for about a week to two. They would never take me anywhere. As soon as my grandfather died, they enrolled me here just so I was out of their hair. If they didn't want me around, then they should have an abortion instead of having me." She broke down more.

Seeing the anguished of the younger girl, Kaname once again brought the red head into her and rocked with her. "It's okay, I'm here. You're here. I'm happy."

Except for the silent whimpers of Nagisa, there was more silence until Nagisa said, "I'm scared."

"Why are you scared?"

"I'm having trouble in accepting I'm gay. I thought I could have handled it if I could have always been with Shizuma-sama, but she doesn't love me at all. I'm only a substitute for who she really loves." She cried harder.

Kaname once again hugged the girl tightly. She felt like crying along with her, but she held back. "She's an idiot to let someone as cute and funny as you slip away. Don't worry, It's going to be okay."

The girl in her arms shook her head, "No, it won't."

"Why not?"

"I feel so dirty."

"Why, because you like girls?"

"No, I…I…Kiyashiki-san…she…she…to…to…"

Raging anger again filled, Kaname, "She raped you, didn't she?"

Only silence answered her.

"I'm so sorry," said Kaname. "It's my fault. If I hadn't… I promise Aoi, no matter what happens, I'll try to protect you from now on."

"Why would you waste your time with me?"

"Listen, I've experienced my own pain, but no matter how much I experienced, I would never cut myself, I end up angry and spiteful, sometimes horny. I'm still like that; however, when I'm with you and your caring attitude, those feelings leave me. It pains me seeing you like this."

"But I'm causing you to worry about me. I can't do anything right."

"Why would you say that?"

"I make a mess out of everything. My first day here, I didn't make it on time for the dorm's curfew. I was sent to the office, made Tamao-chan worry and troubled Rojuko-san. I burdened Shizuma with my presence. I wasn't good with French, so she tutored me. I think she offered just to so I wouldn't complain any more. I've tried so much, but I don't think anybody wants me around. Did you know because I've so depressed lately some underclassman gave me cookies to cheer up. I didn't know if I should smile for being loved or cry because of their pity."

Kaname pulled away from Nagisa and looked her in the eye again, "Aoi, do you honestly not believe in your own self worth? Seriously, people like you because of who you are. You try so hard and people see it. Can't you see how much your friends love you? I see that you've been hurt, abandoned by those you care about, but at the same time don't forget about the rest of those who just want to see you smile. Isn't that right, Suzumi?"

Unknown to the red head, Tamao had been standing in the door during Nagisa's speech. Upon seeing the scene and hearing some of what was said, she was fill with shocked. She stood amazed to see Kaname tenderly scolding Nagisa. She was also bewildered about her roommate's physical appearance of being clad in only a towel, who didn't seem all that frighten of being in Kaname's arms.

"What's going on here?" the poet asked.

The red head didn't want to say anything because she was afraid of what Tamao would say, think or do. Somehow, Nagisa didn't want to be judged by Tamao. Being scolded by Kaname was one thing, since the older girl it was natural between them, but she never wanted to be scolded by Tamao.

As for Kaname, she stood up from her spot on the floor and walked over to Tamao, "Suzumi, do you have a first aid kit?"

She nodded, "Why would need one?"

"Before I tell you, you have to promise me you won't tell anyone."

"What is it?" she asked glancing from Kaname to Nagisa and back again. "If it has anything to do with Nagisa, then I should…"

"Not this time, but if she continues her actions, then yes, but for now let's give her time," said the older girl, thinking about the cuts and scabs she had seen on the red head. She figured if she could stop the red head from abusing herself any more, she wouldn't have to mention a thing to anyone. However, if Nagisa continued, she knew she would have no choice but to tell someone.

"What are you talking about?"

To Kaname, this conversation almost seemed like de ja vu to her somehow. Shaking it off mentally, she motioned for Nagisa to come over. Reluctant at first, she finally relented as she walked over to them. As she walked over, Kaname shut the door to the room. Now in privacy, Nagisa lowered her towel to reveal the blood stained hand towels. Tamao's eyes flew open in horror at the sight. As for Kaname, she slowly removed each rag to reveal the cuts.

Tears flooded Tamao's eyes. She looked from the cuts to Kaname, "Who did this to her?"

"She did it to herself."

"Why?"

"She was in pain from many things, including her own twisted insecurities about the world. If you're a true friend to her, be as kind as loving as you can be, but more importantly be as understanding as well."

Tamao nodded. She retrieved her first aid kit and fixed Nagisa up with a mixture of butterfly band aids and regular ones. After a private talk with Kaname, who discussed some of things the red head was going through, Tamao's hatred towards the older girl vanished to new found respect.

* * *

><p>AN:When I wrote this portion I was thinking about the movie _Prayers for Bobbie_ which I think was based on a true story.


	10. Chapter 10

SPSPSPSPSPSPSPSPSPSPSP

Leaving Nagisa in the care of Tamao, Kaname went to her dorm room to confront Momomi. The brunette was of course there, studying (A/N: I know the concept of Momomi and Kaname studying might seem farfetched, but they are, after all, students at a school). As soon as she heard her door open, the brunette placed her book down, preparing for a fight she knew was coming.

The door to the room shut behind Kaname as she stood there glaring her eyes away at the other girl. For the likes of her, she didn't know how to begin. Anything she could start with, she knew the answer already. Finally, she just cut to the chase, "Out of all the things you could do to Aoi, you raped her."

"I did no such thing," she said as if offended. "Besides you're no better than I am. Does the name Hikari ring any bells for you?"

The taller girl laughed, "I can't argue you with you there, but no matter how many times I had her in my grasp, did not I touch her inappropriately. As for you, you raped her!"

"I told you I didn't," she scoffed, "I slapped her face a few times, felt her up the right way a bit, and told her off, but I never raped her. If you're worried about her virtue, it's still intact."

Kaname's eyes narrowed, "To Aoi, your molesting is the same as raping. You have no idea what she's been going through. Your actions have consequences leading her to do a stupid thing. You took your anger that you hold towards me out on her."

"She deserved it."

"What did she ever do to you?"

"She got on my nerves and she took you away from me."

More laughter broke out Kaname's mouth, "We were never official and she didn't take me away from you. Whatever sudden emotions exploiding in me for her was like lightning striking. Whatever I feel for her makes no sense even to myself, except there's just this pull towards her. It's just some strange force of nature."

"She's only going to hurt her you."

"Might be so," the blunette agreed, "but I still can't keep away from her. Even if she never feels anything for me, I'll still be there for her."

Momomi, being filled with anger and sadness, walked over to Kaname and slapped her hard across the face. "I hope you feel all the pain I'm going through."

"Momomi, I pity you. I don't like how you inflicted Aoi, but I do pity you. I'm sorry for any pain I caused you and I wish I could take it back, but it's not in my ability to do so. If you ever forgive me, I still want you in my life. We've been through too much together to let our friendship go to waste."

Feeling more anger and agitation, Momomi slapped her ex-lover again and walked out of the room.

* * *

><p>Due to the hostilities of being in the same room, Kaname had arranged with the dorm sister to transfer to a different room. Luckily and oddly enough, Kaname ended up rooming with Amane, who had a free bed in her room. Of course, the student council member had to ask Amane if it would be fine to room with her. The feat in and of itself was incredible as Kaname had to swallow her pride, and also considering at one point it would have been a dream come true, but now it seemed like the dream was far away.<p>

Besides switching rooms, she also kept up her student council duties. She was approached a few times by Shion, who was trying to bridge the gap between the two ex-lovers. The blunette found her president's concern almost welcoming, but she would never admit it. When her president asked what she was going to do to make up with Momomi, the girl just said that it was in the brunette's hands. After which, Kaname asked Shion to keep an eye out on her fellow council member. The president agreed. Knowing she had someone keeping an eye on her former friend set her at ease.

When she wasn't doing her council duties, she was constantly around Nagisa. They would talk, eat dinner together and studied. She couldn't have cared less by how people were looking at her strangely as she spent her time with a Miator student. At few times when she ate with Nagisa, she would glance over to Shizuma, who would look in their direction as if trying to figure out what was going on. A certain pride lit up in Kaname as she thought how justifyingly perfect it was to pull something over on the Etoile. Although she wanted to be with Nagisa as much as possible, she also loved taking the red head's time as a form of vengeance against the silver wolf.

* * *

><p>The days went by and the excitement for the upcoming Etoile competition exploded throughout the three schools. To Kaname's horror, Miyuki had asked Nagisa to join in the competition with Tamao. Due to her connection and experiences with the current Etoile, Nagisa had no wish to join in the competition to Kaname's relief. However, she decided to do it anyway. When the Spica girl asked why, the younger girl replied someone had to give Amane a run for her money. The older girl couldn't help but laugh at it.<p>

Since she never really had any real intention of actually entering the contest, Kaname decided to encourage Amane into joining the competition. So, she challenged her new roommate to a duel. During the duel, students including Nagisa (who would have been enjoyed if it ended in a tie since she liked both girls equally) showed up. Many words and confessions were blurted out from Kaname, giving Amane plenty to ponder about. When the conversation came around to talk about Hikari, it really hit home for the Prince. She decided she would do it for the girl she loved and not because of any responsibility people think she had.

Feeling like she had done a job well done, Kaname and Nagisa asked Amane, Hikari, and a few other friends to join in a celebration of sorts. It ended up with being a midnight tea party, where Kaname had somehow managed to steal a tub of chocolate ice cream. No one questioned it but just dug in. The whole concept of the midnight tea party excited Kaname somewhat. When she was first told about how the red head breaking curfew, she felt awed by how miss goody two shoes dared do such a thing. Although, it seemed childish to her, she still went to an occasional one for the thrill of it and just to be with the red head.

After finding the hidden letter that Kaori left for her, Shizuma's world had changed. For over a year, she had grieved and dwelt so much on her past with Kaori, she just couldn't let things go. Since the death of her young lover, she never found someone who could hold her heart. It all changed when Nagisa showed up out of the blue. As much as she loved the red head, she was still filled with grief. A part of her believed that if she were love Nagisa that she would eventually forget about the love she had shared with Kaori. Somehow she would feel guilt for betraying the memory of her dead lover. However, the hidden letter had freed her from anything that could hold her back from another relationship.

The one she wanted, she had hurt, not knowing how much, only that she hurt her. On the other hand, she felt hurt for letting her go. Above all, the thing she hated the most and the thing that baffled her the most was when she would see her in the dining room or around campus. The red head would be seen in the presence of Kenjo Kaname from Spica. Shizuma couldn't figure out how they ended up as friends, nor could she figure out why Kaname would waste her time on Nagisa (not that she was against wasting time with the red head). The thing that struck Shizuma bewildered was knowing Kaname and her lover Momomi had endangered Nagisa's life right before the production of _Carmen_. It just didn't make sense why the red head would even think about being near someone so dangerous.

Yet there was something more surprising she saw as she watched Nagisa and Kaname interact with each other. It was how Kaname looked at Nagisa sometimes. Shizuma, at times, caught some signs of affection coming from the older girl. The silver wolf also noticed how Kaname had stopped hanging around Momomi, who she had seen chatting away with Shion. It wasn't all that weird, but still, it was unusual.

As she sat at dinner one night, she found herself looking at Nagisa, who was sitting with her normal crowd of friends, plus Kaname. The silver fox watched as Kaname smiled a strange sort of half smile with a message of satisfaction. Just seeing it put the Etoile over the edge. She stood up and walked over to the table she was staring at. With one tap of her hand on Kaname's shouhlder, she achieved her goal of getting the girl's attention.

Upon seeing who taped her, Kaname stood up from her seat and stared into Shizuma's face, "Can I help you, Etoile-sama?"

The silver wolf smiled, but her eyes were glaring, "I was wondering if I can have a word with you."

Kaname folded her arms in waiting, making Shizuma angry.

However, she spoke in the same ease she had approached Kaname. "Alone, if you would."

The other girl shrugged and made to leave the dining hall. Both girls walked to the foyer where Shizuma stopped at a secluded place.

Realizing they had stopped, Kaname asked, "What do you want?"

Shizuma used her eyes to try to burn a hole into the Spica girl's head, "What are you playing at?"

"What do you mean?"

"You know what I'm talking about."

The blunette smile, "Ah, do you mean my relationship with Aoi?"

"As if you really have a relationship with her," chided Shizuma.

"I do," she said before sighing, "But only as friends. Although I did kiss her once, and my, it was so intoxicating."

Not liking the younger girl's attitude, Shizuma grabbed hold of Kaname by the collar of her uniform, "If you lay a hand on her, I swear…"

"What are you going to do?" the other girl interrupted, "Hurt me. You have no right."

Shizuma grew quiet as she roughly withdrew her hands from the younger girl. The silver wolf knew the other girl had a point, but she wouldn't back down, "I could say the same thing about you."

Kaname smiled, "Ah, I know all too well about my actions, but it's okay now. The thing I did was only a one time offense, but as for you and your constant reluctance of accepting Aoi's feelings is beyond any actions I had committed. Now unless you're seriously planning on getting involved with her again, I suggest you don't break her heart. If you do you'll have me to answer to."

"A part of me was not planning on pursuing a relationship with her, but I can't stand seeing her and without wanting her, nor can I stand seeing her near you. I don't understand why you're even around her; why do you care so much for Nagisa?"

"I can't stay away from her. Unfortunately, I have no chance with her, but I'll be cursed if I let you hurt her again. Unless you take responsibility for your own actions, I won't let you near Aoi."

"What if we had a duel," suggested Shizuma. "If I beat you it would prove my love for Nagisa."

The thought invigorated Kaname, "Agreed. What game are we playing at?" The Spica girl knew Shizuma in being a very athletic girl like herself. She figured whatever Shizuma thought would be a sports activity making it a fair duel. What form the duel would take place as she was determined and ready. (A/N: You know, I can take this story in so many places at this point it's not funny, but I had never wanted to make this story long, so I'll just keep things simple.)

Shizuma's eyes shown wickedly as she said, "I propose we do a best two out of three competition (A/N: So much for simple, but just wait.)"

"Sounds fair," agreed Kaname. "Would it be based on a single event like a tennis tournament?" She had been thinking about her duel Amane.

"No, it would be three separate events. For the first two events will be judged by a panel of judges."

"Who do you have in mind?" asked Kaname loving the idea more and more.

"The three student body presidents from the different schools," she explained.

The Spica girl knew it was a fair deal. Miyuki would side with Shizuma; Shion would side with her; Chikaru would be the tie breaker. "I like it, but what about the last event. Who's going to be the judge?"

"Nagisa."

Kaname would have argued against it, but what could she do. It just made sense to her. "Fine," she grumbled. "What's the first event?"

"Cooking?"

Sweat sprung from Kaname's face, "Why?"

"Nagisa likes sweets. Someone who wants to stay by her side should be able to make them for her."

"Okay, but why not ask Aoi-san to judge all three events?" the younger girl asked, realizing the type of game Shizuma was playing at.

"Ah, when it comes to sweets, Nagisa wouldn't care for the quality, just as long as it was sweet. That's why we need the three judges."

"Fine, when is it?"

"Next Saturday."


	11. Chapter 11

A/N: WARNING: Before reading this, get yourself either something chocolate or something sweet to eat. Thank-you.

SPSPSPSPSPSPSPSPSPSPSPSP

It's been about five days since the challenge brought forth. Worry came over Kaname as she pondered on the upcoming task. For the past few days, she had been locking herself away in the kitchen to get some practice in for the first event. She had always hated cooking. The very idea felt too feminine for her, not to mention it made her feel like a repressed woman, something she's been trying to overcome. Of course, she wasn't at all very good at it. Some of her creations she tried to baked for practice would either have the wrong flavor (too sweet or two salty, or just not enough of something) or weren't properly cooked (they were left in the oven too long or not long enough). Slowly, her baking improved, but she fear it wouldn't be enough for the upcoming match.

As she was looking in a cookbook for a simple but effective recipe, she heard noise coming from the door way. She shot her head up and found Momomi standing there in her nightdress. "How do you know I was here?"

The brunette sighed, "Even though we might not be speaking to each other, I still pay attention to your activities because I care about you. As for how I know, it was Shion, who had informed me of this little duel between you and Hanazono-sama."

"So why are you here?"

"To talk you out of this foolish behavior," she said as she walked over to Kaname, who once again became fascinated with her cookbook. "You know even if you win this thing, she'll never choose you."

The other Spica girl looked at the brunette, "I'm aware of that and I don't care. With this competition, Nagisa will see that Shizuma at least cares for her. If she chooses Shizuma over me it's not that big of a deal."

"Bull!" exclaimed Momomi, "You're only getting yourself hurt."

"Why would you care?"

"I told you already that I care for you, Kaname, even if you broke my heart. Besides, we were friends before we were lovers after all. Somehow I don't want to lose it and I'll admit, I'm rather lonely without you."

"What about Shion-san?"

"Ah, she's good company," replied the brunette, "But she's not you. In any case, since I can't talk you out of going through with this stupid duel, I guess I'll have to help you."

Kaname studied her ex-lover for a moment, "Why would you?"

"Simply put, it would put me back in your good graces, and it's a chance to pull a win against the great Etoile."

"Ah, I appreciate your willingness, but I still don't want you back as my lover."

The brunette put her hands up, "I wasn't suggesting that because I know it would be fruitless to even ask. After all, I've seen the way you look at Aoi-san. In all the time I've known you, you have never looked at me like that. Being friends with you would be more than enough." She glanced down at the page the cookbook was opened up to, "So do you have a plan to win this thing?"

"Yes, I plan on doing my best."

Momomi looked at Kaname's face for a moment in disbelief, "What you're not going to cheat?"

The taller girl shook her head, "It would dishonest Aoi's name."

A sigh escaped from the brunette, "Okay, no cheating, maybe playing by the judge's desires."

Kaname looked at Momomi questionably, "Did Shion inform you about what else the duel involved?"

"Of course," she paused to think. "Since you're from Spica and had a hand into convincing Amane to participate into the Etoile competition, she's probably in your pocket. You know I still don't understand how you managed to convince the Prince when Shion had failed time and time again."

"I told her off and gave her a reason why she should enter."

"What reason did you give?"

"That she shouldn't do it just for herself, but those around her, especially Hikari."

"You played the Hikari card and it worked?"

The other girl nodded. "People do the craziest things when they're in love."

Momomi placed a hand on Kaname's shoulders and smiled, "Yourself included."

The blunette said nothing.

Taking her hand away, Momomi changed the subject, "It's strange though. Shion had played the Hikari card so many times, but it never worked out. You must have played it better than our dear president. I have to admit, our president does try her best to be manipulative. It's quite an endearing quality actually."

Kaname smiled, "I wouldn't be working under her if it wasn't."

"Exactly," agreed Momomi. She once again looked down at the cookbook, "Rojuko-san would most likely vote for Shizuma out of loyality. However, Chikaru would be the target you want to focus the most on. You should make her something that she would like."

Kaname shrugged, "I was going for something Aoi would like. She's very fond of cookies; she told me once how she made thank-you cookies for Shizuma. As I recall, she told me also, it was Chikaru who had taught her how to make them."

"That's a good start," declared Momomi. "Now if you want I could sabotage Shizuma's oven."

"Momomi, no cheating, but maybe you can help me become better at baking, I wouldn't mind the help."

The brunette smiled.

* * *

><p>During the next few days before the first event, Momomi had helped Kaname with baking practice. The brunette had improved greatly in her baking skills. Before the whole duel thing, Kaname had taken a few required cooking classes, but she was never really good at it. Now she felt more prepared as the day of the first competition arrived.<p>

When it did arrived, the kitchen at Lilum stood ready. It was agreed to hold the competition on neutral ground for the first two events thus the appointment of Lilum. Inside the kitchen, a small group of people gathered. It consisted of Shion, Shizuma, Chikaru, Miyuki, Momomi, Kaname, Tamao, and Nagisa, plus a few others who wanted to watch. Just like Kaname's duel with Amane, the word had spread around about the duel between the soon to be ex-Etoile and her. The Spica girl had no wish for it to spread around as it did because she knew it would get back to Nagisa. She didn't want the red head to know because it would have caused the girl to worry. Not to mention, the fear she felt when Nagisa would know that Shizuma wanted her in her life. It was the fear of losing Nagisa already which discouraged her knowing her efforts would be wasted. However, the young girl did have a right to know.

She stood by her table filled with the ingredients she needed while Shizuma stood by her own table. Kaname couldn't help but notice that when an apron was added to the Miator uniform, it turned into a sort of maid's uniform. The idea alone brightened her mood. It proved how much better the Spica uniform was. Although, she couldn't help but imagine what a certain red head would look like in a sexy French maid uniform.

Speaking of red heads, Kaname looked over to the girl of her imagination. She noticed how the other girl looked uncomfortable with being there. Besides being uncomfortable, she also shot glances at Shizuma every now and again. A tight pain clutched the brunette's heart for a moment until her eyes were locked on Nagisa's. Worry shone in those red eyes. The older girl grinned at her to reassure the younger girl and to say that she shouldn't worry.

Once the mumbling room quieted down, the duelists began. They had about an hour to complete the task. During measuring and pouring, Kaname would glance over to see Shizuma's progress. The silver fox seemed not to care what was happening around, only at the task at hand. Such concentration only stoked the Spica girl's fire and determination. Once the batter was complete, she made dough balls and placed them on the cookie sheet. The sheet went into the preheated oven. While the first sheet was cooking, Kaname went on working on a second sheet, since she had left over dough. During the process, she was tempted to taste the cookie dough, but refrain from doing so leaving it up to the judges.

The hour was up and both duelists took their creations over to the judges table. Kaname laid out three small plates before the judges. Each plate contained the American Classic, chocolate chip cookies. As for Shizuma, she went with a different American Classic, brownies with a mint chocolate sauce. Her choice was based on her knowledge of Nagisa liking cookies along with other sweets like cake. The brown was a perfect mix of both cake and cookies.

Although a brownie might seem simple, it's by far from it. The thing with the brownie was the texture consistency of the finish project. It could either have a gooey texture or cake like one. With a chocolate sauce, a gooey texture is by far the best. As for the texture, it all depends on the amount of air the batter gets. How does this involve with the brownies Shizuma made; well depending on the texture of the brownie and the preference of the judges, it makes all the difference.

The judges took up Kaname's cookie first and nibbled at it. Each judge chewed gracefully as they allowed for the flavor to sink in. Once they each grew an opinion of the cookie, they each wrote down their thoughts and score, before taking a drink of milk to delude the flavor. They then gave out their judgment.

Miyuki spoke first, "Kaname's cookie was good, maybe a little salty and overly cooked; I give it a six."

Shion spoke next, "I found Kaname's chocolate chip cookies nice and crisp just the way I like it. I'll give them a nine."

Without a commentary on the cookie, Chikaru smiled and said, "Seven."

So far, Kaname's score was 22. They then went on to Shizuma's brownies and did the same with the Spica girl's cookie. Once the brownie flavor was washed away with milk, the judges gave their remarks and scores.

This time around, Shion took the reins first, "Shizuma's creation was too sweet and rich in flavor, but the texture could have been gooier, I give it a five."

A little agitated by Shion's unfair judgement, Miyuki took over, "Shizuma's brownie was perfectly gooey. The flavor was truly delicious. She gets a ten."

Chikaru, still smiling and without any commentary, gave her score, "Eight."

Just by one point, Kaname lost. Although she felt defeated in the inside, she wouldn't show it on the outside due to her pride. After hearing the results, she looked over at Nagisa, trying to figure out what might be going through the red head's mind. The younger girl still looked uneasy being there, but the blunette couldn't figure out why though. A quick study of those red eyes told her that the younger girl was experiencing some inner conflict. _I wish she would open up more._

Sighing out, Kaname walked over to Shizuma and held out her hand in a sportsman like manner, "It was a fair match."

Taking the proffered hand, Shizuma agreed, "Indeed, but I still won." She grinned at the fact. "Just one more win for me and I'll have you off my back and…" she leaned in to whisper in Kaname's ear, "I'll be able to be with Nagisa again."

The Spica girl's grip tightened around the silver wolf's as she whispered back, "Remember this it's not over between us." She released the older girl's hand and straightened up, "So what is the next contest?"

"Ah, flower arrangement. Since I'm still Etoile, we'll use the flowers in the green house."

It angered the Spica girl to know they were using the flowers in such a manner. The flowers that the Etoiles grew were considered sacred. "Wouldn't that be a waste of resources?"

"Ah, the bouquets we'll make will go towards beautifying the grounds. One will be placed in the library and the other at the cathedral."

It took a moment of consideration on Kaname's part as she thought through the idea. Knowing the plans for the flowers put Kaname more at ease with the idea. "Fine, when is it?"

"About this time next week in the greenhouse," replied Shizuma as she went back over to her table to clean up.

Following suit, Kaname went to clean up. She took the remaining cookies and placed them in a zip lock bag. Once the cookies were secured, she went about cleaning everything else up. Momomi had come over to her to offer her a hand in cleaning. Gratefully, the blunette accepted the helping hand. While they cleaned, Kaname watched from the corner of her eye to see Shizuma handing her remaining brownies to Nagisa, who took them rather reluctantly. Kaname had assumed it was due to the girl's shyness around Shizuma nothing more.

Once cleaning was finished, Kaname took her cookies with Momomi on her tail. Upon approaching the first trash can, the blunette stopped contemplating throwing them in.

"Do you think you should?" asked Momomi.

"They're trash, are they not? They won nothing for me." The taller girl said as she threw them in.

Seeing the pain her ex-lover's eyes, Momomi reached out and took the bag in her hands. She opened it and tasted a cookie. "Mm, they're not bad. I think these were the best cookies you've made so far."

Kaname didn't give a thank-you or anything except, "Just do me a favor and put them back in the trash where they belong." Frustrated, she walked off soon afterwards.

As for Momomi, she had other plans. She, herself, couldn't believe what she was about to do. She resealed the cookies and took them with her until she found a certain blunette, Tamao. She might have gone to Nagisa herself, but there was still the molesting problem that kept the brunette away. An apology was far from Momomi's mind, in fact, she thought she was justified with her actions. However, the brunette knew her ex-lover had made the cookies with Nagisa in mind and decided the younger girl could at least enjoy the labor of love.


	12. Chapter 12

From the moment she heard about the duel between Shizuma and Kaname and the reason behind it, Nagisa felt guilty for putting the other girls out. She didn't like the feeling at all. She suffered also from confusion. She couldn't figure out why Shizuma had taken a sudden interest in her again. A part of her enjoyed the fact the Shizuma wanted her, but another part of her didn't want anything to do with her. She still loved her, but she didn't want to get hurt by her again. It would be too much.

On the other hand, she had found a friend in an unusual source. The thought of Kaname had sent a smile to her face. She had felt so much comfort from the older girl, the very idea confused and surprised her. In the amount of time she had gotten to know Kaname, she had felt like she could open up to the girl. When it came to opening up in general, she hardly felt as if she could fully open up to Tamao. It was fear of the blunette's judgment which kept her from it. With Kaname, it was a given fact the older girl was judgmental, but at the same time it was rather good thing in Nagisa's book. If she could say why it was, it could be because the red head felt like she wouldn't lose Kaname of her opinion of her if she told her the truth.

But back to the competition…

When the first competition took place, Nagisa watched on as both girls work their hardest on making their dessert choice. She watched as Shizuma worked as calmly and smoothly as possible, while Kaname had looked very concentrated and nervous as she worked. From just watching the Spica girl try her best, Nagisa couldn't help but hope a little that the older girl would win the competition just because how the blunette looked as if she wanted it badly. The end result however disappointed her. The moment she received the brownies from Shizuma, she didn't really want them, she felt guilty for taking them; it just felt wrong. Between the brownies and chocolate chip cookies, she rather had the cookies. Brownies were too rich for her.

To her delight, she was able to sample the chocolate chip cookies, when Tamao miraculously handed a bag filled with the cookies Kaname had baked. She was surprised at the appearance of the cookies, but was hurt when it wasn't Kaname who had given her the cookies. She had asked Tamao how she came upon them. Her roommate told her it was Momomi. At first she didn't want to eat any of the cookies in fear Momomi had done something to them, but she braved it after looking at them closely. Seeing nothing wrong, she had happily ate a cookie or two or three. The cookies were good if someone like hard chocolate chip cookie. Nagisa like those type of cookies with a little chewy kind, but all in all she loved them since they were made by Kaname.

The very thought of the next competition didn't sit well for her. Even though she didn't want to see either girl loose, she didn't know who she wanted to win more. Kaname has been such a great friend to her and had cared for her greatly. Just being near her helped heal her heart. As for Shizuma, she still loved her, but she wasn't sure about what that love entailed.

SPSPSPSPSPSPSPSPSPSPSPSPSPSP

Inside of the greenhouse was pleasantly warm. More students were present of this time as they waited in wanting to watch the second portion of the duel. The news of the competition reached the ears of many students. Many viewed it as a pre-show for the Etoile competition; you know just something to get the student's blood up and pumping for when the new Etoile would be voted on. Many others viewed it as such a romantic gesture. Although plenty were completely taken by shock and surprise that the duel was about Nagisa. There was plenty of confusion among the students on how Nagisa had fit into the equation, but there were also a few "that's-why" responses as there were people who were wondering what happened between the famous duelists.

Silence entered among the chattering slew of females as both duelists entered and took their places at the two prepared tables. Upon each table were gardening aprons, flower cutters, a pair of gloves and a vase. Once they took their respective places, the judges entered taking a seat on three chairs that were waiting for them. Seriously, at the drop of the glove, the competition began.

The second the glove hit the floor, Shizuma and Kaname went out in search of the perfect flowers. Each competitor had about an hour to design a beautiful bouquet of flowers. As it was all the flowers in the greenhouse were up for grabs, but there was a limit on how many flowers they were able to use.

The Spica girl looked around the flowers with Nagisa on the mind. She wanted to pick out the perfect combination. As she stood before some roses, Kaname looked over towards where the red head stood. She had caught the girl's eyes and an encouraging smile. Breathing in, she allowed for herself to listen to her heart in choosing her flowers.

Although it might seem a little strange, but while she looked through all of the flowers and arranged them in the vase, Kaname felt a guilty pleasure enter her. Yes, indeed, she loved flower arranging. Her little passion was something she kept hidden in case people judged her for going against what she looked like and how she behaved. Her secret love of flowers was another push into why she wanted to be the Etoile. The chance to tend to flowers most days would have been a great delight. No one really knew about her secret love, not even Momomi, well the brunette kind of sensed it since Kaname once called herself a flower. Even though she didn't want people to know about her secret passion, she decided to heck with it. She needed to win.

Her bouquet of flowers incuded: heather, casablanca lily, star gazer lily, yellow roses, white orchid, and dahlia "bishop of llandaff." When picking out the flower selection, she had pictured the red head. Her goal was to make a bouquet which represented who Nagisa was. The white color from some of the flowers was to portray Nagisa's innocent and purity. Some of the more vibrate colors depicted the girl's passion. As for the roses, there being ten, meant friendship, jealousy and "you're perfect."

On the other hand, Shizuma had chosen to use the gloriosa lily, sweet peas, watsonias, red roses, pink orchids, red tulips. In creating her bouquet she wanted to express her feelings for Nagisa. She used such deep shades of reds to show her great passion for the red head. Although she had a different message to relay to Nagisa, she still shared one message with her opponent and it lied with the lily, "I dare you to love me." (A/N: _Imagine You and Me_ reference). Unfortunately for them, the messages they were trying to convey in the flowers were lost on Nagisa who knew nothing of the language of flowers only that they were pretty. She would later learn though.

Once the hour was up, they kept their creations on the table. All three judges stood up and walked over to table. Each eyed the bouquets with a critical eye as they viewed them from all angles. After a few moments, they went back to their seats.

Since they judged Kaname first last time, it was only fair to begin with Shizuma this time. The person leading the way was Shion. Smiling somewhat wickedly, she began, "Shizuma, I found your bouquet arrangement filled with too many clashing colors. From me you'll get a six." She would have gone lower, but she liked flowers too much.

Seeing it was her turn, Miyuki spoke up, "Shizuma, your flower arrangement is beautiful and in good taste, I'll give you a ten."

The silver wolf smiled as she looked over at the girl she was doing this all for. After catching her eye quickly and giving her a smile, she looked over at the last judge.

Chikaru smiled as she looked deeply into the Etoile's eyes, showing the girl the ever infamous twinkle of mischief in the Lilum girl's eye. "Eight."

Thus her score came to twenty-four.

The spot light was then shifted from the silver wolf to Kaname. Clearing her throat, Miyuki spoke, "As for you, Kaname, your bouquet was lacking in color. You'll get a five from me."

The Spica girl couldn't help but think that things weren't going her way. However, she had some hope when it came to her president's turn.

"Your flower piece held such beauty and elegance. It deserves a ten."

A little smile formed in Kaname's heart as she felt grateful for knowing her president had her back. Of course, she knew that Shion voted so highly because she wanted to have one up on Miator. Somehow the blunette couldn't help but think that her president was putting her own personal grudges and feelings before those close to her. A part of her was saddened by this fact then again she couldn't have been prouder.

The Spica girl turned her attention to the crazy, but mysterious president of Lilum. Although she would never admit to it, she had always felt uneasy in the presence of Chikaru. She had always found the raven haired girl knew too much from what she let on to. She also didn't trust the girl's sweet outer appearance. It's just unnerving. However, Kaname knew that Chikaru used her skills for good. Mentally she crossed her fingers in hopes for a good response from the Lilum student body president.

With the ever present twinkle in her eye, Chikaru smiling said, "Ten."

_Twenty five, _the Spica girl mentally breathed. The idea of a victory caused a smirking smile to form on her face. Sportsmanly, she walked over to Shizuma and offered her a handshake. "So far we're tied, Etoile-sama."

Taking her opponent's hand, Shizuma smiled, "So we are." She looked over at the flower arrangement her rival created for a second and moved her eyes back to the Spica girl, "It's interesting, I wouldn't have picked you for creating pretty flower bunches."

The other girl shook her head, "Everyone has their secrets and besides, I am a private woman."

Shizuma didn't comment as she agreed with Kaname. "Are you intrigued about our final competition?"

Kaname nodded her head, "What will our last game be?"

"Unlike our other matches, this one will be more of a private matter. We'll use one of the empty dorm rooms (A/N: not the one that Kaori stayed in). There will only be you, Nagisa, and me."

"I would prefer if there were at least three more people there. For security purposes mind you."

"Are you sure? After all we will be playing," she leaned her head in to whisper in Kaname's ear, "strip poker. First one to make Nagisa's nose bleed wins."

The blunette smiled at the idea. She wasn't ashamed to show off her goods, so inviting more people didn't bother her, yet she couldn't help but hope that maybe Shizuma had a problem with it. Whispering as well, Kaname said, "The more, the merrier unless you have a problem with it."

"I don't."

"Good, but there is one question I need to ask. What happens if Aoi's nose doesn't bleed?"

"The first one without any clothes on loses of course."

"Perfect, when is it?"

"Next Saturday after dinner," explained the silver wolf. "If I were you, I would wear as much clothing as I could wear."

"That would be cheating. We'll wear the equal amount of clothing, ten pieces each."

"Agreed."

SPSPSPSPSPSPSPSPSPSPSPSPSP

After the small victory over Shizuma, Momomi had approached her ex-lover to congratulate her on her win. She also wanted to know what the final part of the duel would be. She had smiled at the idea of her blue haired friend and the current Etoile dueling it out in a war of strip poker. She was even more thrilled when she was asked to join the fun as a witness. Although she was thrilled at the chance to see Kaname's naked flesh again, she was also worried about her.

Since her break up, Momomi realized how important her ex-roommate was in her life. Even if they couldn't be lovers any more, she would force herself to be fine with it. The fact was she was rather glad for the break they took. It gave her time to think about the most important things in life. For the most part, she realized her mind was only seeing the small world around both her and Kaname. It really shocked her when she viewed so much more of the world. One of the things she viewed was how she had other friends outside of her ex-lover. One of these friends happened to be her president, Shion.

Due to her president's influence, she found out that she really hurt Kaname by hurting Nagisa. No, she didn't see the hurt on the blunette's face, but she knew it. Her knowledge came from observing her friend with the red head. She could see the happiness and the contentment from her ex-roommate. Somehow she realized how she had to make it up to Kaname. So, that's how she found herself trying to hook Nagisa up with Kaname. It was mostly in subtle ways like the cookies.

At the moment, she held in her hand a half of dozen roses of various colors. Kaname didn't do the arrangement, only Momomi. The bringing of the roses was only an excuse to approach Tamao to ask her if she could visit with Nagisa for a moment. Tamao didn't want to agree, but shae was told that if she wanted, she could stay as Momomi handed the flowers over. The poet agreed, despite how suspicious she was of the older girl.

Together they walked to the dorm room the young blunette shared with the red head. When they walked in, Nagisa wasn't in sight. Before Momomi could get frustrated, the red head had come out of the bathroom. She stood stock stiff when her eyes viewed Momomi standing there. The ultimate two choice decision of fight or flight overcame Nagisa, but her fear caused her to remain standing.

Seeing the girl uncomfortable, Momomi sat down on the bed so as to not frighten the younger girl any more, "Relax, Aoi-san, I have no wish to hurt you."

Seeing the tension between both girls Tamao walked over to Nagisa and placed a comforting arm about the girl's shoulder to lend her some strength. "It's alright, Nagisa-chan, I'm here for you."

The red head nodded her head and looked at Momomi waiting for the older girl to speak.

Momomi sighed and held the roses up to Nagisa, "Call these a peace offering from me and a possible gift from Kaname."

With great hestation, Nagisa reached out for the roses. She placed the bouquet up to her noses as soon as she had them in her possession and smelt the enticing fragrance. "Thank-you," she stuttered.

Momomi only nodded, "In any case, I have a question for you."

"Go on."

"What are your feelings for Kaname?"

Having the question hit her, Nagisa sat on her bed to think. "I care for her," she slowly said. "I'm thankful for all that she's done for me."

"But do you love her?"

"Why do you want to know?"

A smirking smile formed on Momomi's face, "Actually, I don't. You could tell me how you feel about her, but I don't really want to know." She stood up and walked towards the door, "I just wanted to ask, if you loved her. Depending on your answer, I hope you be kind to her." Leaving behind her food for thought, Momomi went on to rejoin either Kaname or Shion.

* * *

><p>AN: The story is finished, but I haven't edited yet. Just be patient.


	13. Chapter 13

A/N: WARNING: Um, before you read this, I would suggest you go to your nearest store and pick up a box of P*cky and then enjoy.

* * *

><p>Nagisa walked with Tamao to where the last section of the duel was being held. Although the first two events were publicized through whispers and tumors, this one was kept more of a secret. What was actually going to happen, well except for a select few, no one really knew including Nagisa and her roommate. Even though the duel was about her, Nagisa felt out of the loop about the whole thing. In the first two events, she was more informed than this last one. The only thing she knew was that she was to go to some empty room on the top floor. Past that, it would be a total surprise to her, although Tamao had theorized quite a few scenarios about what might happen. However, the red head only took what Tamao said with a grain of salt.<p>

As they approached the room, they noticed two other girls standing outside the door. Looking more closely told them these figures were Kaname and Momomi. Momomi wore a pink silk night gown, where Kaname looked as if she was going out clubbing or something. She wore a pair of black knee high boots, stylish faded ripped blue jeans, a sleeveless red polo shirt with a dark brown suede jacket and a pair of sunglasses.

Upon seeing Nagisa, Kaname's face lit up; of course, it was hard to tell with her eyes hidden behind her sunglasses, but it showed on her lips when she gave a sexy little smile. The red head found herself blushing from the sight of the smile. As she and Tamao drew closer to the two older girls, Nagisa was going to make a comment on how nice, Kaname looked, but her chance was stolen from her by the presence of Shizuma coming from the opposite direction from where the red head came from.

The young girl's eyes grew wide as she took in what the Etoile was wearing. Just like the blunette Spica girl, she didn't wear her PJs. Instead she wore a traditional yukata, black with red roses and pink cherry blossoms. Upon her feet, she wore black house shoes. Her long flowing hair was held back by a pair of chop sticks. Needless to say, the word elegance described the silver wolf to a tea.

Stopping by the door, she asked, "Shall we go in?"

Kaname smirked, "I would, but it seems like we're missing a member of our party."

"No you're not," said a voice from behind the group, who were all facing the door before this point. Every head turned towards the direction of the voice to find Chikaru standing there in black teddy. (A/N: It's possible, look at her swim suit in the summer school episode.)

Except for Nagisa and Tamao, who were a bit embarrassed to see an upperclassman in such a seductive appearance, Shizuma, Kaname and Momomi nearly drooled at the sight. They kept staring until they heard a soft cough from Tamao. The older girls looked over at their underclassman trying to understand why they were interrupted from seeing such a terrific view. "Shall we proceed inside the room?" the poet asked as she indicated the door.

"Ah, yes," said Shizuma as she pulled out of her thoughts and a key to unlock the door.

The room was a standard double bedroom. In the center of the room was a low table surrounded by six cushions. Upon the table was a small package (playing cards), along with several boxes P*cky sticks and cans of juice, etc.

"What's all this?" asked Kaname rather suspiciously.

Shizuma, who had knelt by the table, looked at the blunette and answered, "Since Chikaru is neutral in this whole thing, I had asked her to come here and prepare the room for us. She agreed."

Kaname only nodded her head and took her place at the table. "My guess is that she'll also be our dealer."

"Correct, so shall we get started?" asked Shizuma once everyone sat down.

"Hanazono-san?" piped up Tamao.

"Yes, Suzumi-san?"

"What's going to happen tonight?"

In a very nonchalant voice, the Etoile replied, "Strip poker, but don't worry it would only be between Kaname and me."

The poet looked over at her roommate, who looked as if she seen a ghost. In a comforting manner, Tamao wrapped an arm around Nagisa to ease her worries. The red head nodded to Tamao's unspoken words as she looked around the table. She found herself sitting between Chikaru and Tamao, who sat next to Shizuma. To Etoile's left was Momomi followed by Kaname.

Chikaru picked up the packet of cards from the table and took them out to shuffle, "Here are the rules," she said as cards were scrambled. "It's going to be straight out poker, nothing special; however, Jokers are wilds. When someone looses a hand, they must take off an article of clothing; if they win they put on a piece of clothing or if it ends in a drawl nothing happens."

The duelists nodded their head in approval of the rules. Seeing as how things were now settled, Chikaru got down to business and handed out the cards for the first round. Both girls looked at their cards, trying to figure out their next move. After much mental debating, Shizuma asked for two cards, where as Kaname asked for three. Once seeing their new cards, Shizuma laid down hers to reveal two pairs: A pair of sixes and a pair of nines.

Seeing her opponent's cards on the table, Kaname gave a smirk and showed that she had managed to get three of a kind, winning her the first hand. Sighing, Shizuma took the chopsticks out of her hair and laid them on the table. The cards were then picked up and were placed face up next to Chikaru, who didn't bother to shuffle them back in the deck. Once the cards were secure, she continued to pass out five more cards to each of the duelists. (A/N: when I had this scene in mind, I thought "heck it would be easy to write," but it's surprisingly difficult.)

After the first hand, Momomi began to be bored. A part of her wished to join in the fun, but the other part wanted to enjoy the show, but she was bored now. She looked across the table to watch Nagisa and Tamao. The latter looked nervous as she glanced from one poker player to another dreading what might happen next. Having paid a little too much attention to Nagisa, she jumped in surprise by a loud thunk behind her. Turning around at the source, she saw that Kaname had managed to lose a shoe and Shizuma tucking the chopsticks behind her ears. Putting them back into her hair would have taken too long.

Feeling a little hungry because of what was happening, Nagisa picked up a box of P*cky and opened it. So as to not appear like a pig, she turned towards Tamao and offered her a stick. The poet obliged and pinched two out from the foil wrappings in the box. As they finish off the box Kaname had managed to lose another shoe.

Upon seeing the red head and her roommate across from her sharing a box of P*cky, Momomi found herself taking up a box of her own to nibble on. As she slipped a stick into her mouth to suck the chocolate off, an idea came to her. She stood up and walked over to the girls she had been studying. As she knelt down, her presence sort of scared Nagisa, who found herself snuggling up to Chikaru for protection. Her actions didn't go unnoticed by her upperclassmen. Shizuma was confused and a little ticked off that Chikaru had managed to score some snuggling time with the girl she loved. The girl in question rather enjoyed the touch, but she didn't show it. As for Kaname, she had shot her ex-lover a piercing warning glare which said watch it. Momomi just shrugged. Needless to say, both duelists folded and Chikaru had to shuffle the deck again.

Still feeling weary of Momomi, Nagisa stood up and walked over to take the vacated seat between the fighting ones on the pretense of there being a juice drink there which looked tasty. She picked up a can of a carrot/strawberry mixture and took a gulp. Although it might have sounded as if it would be terrible, it was quite delicious, but at the same time, it kind of tasted like something a baby food. While she enjoyed the refreshing drink, Kaname had her luck turned as Shizuma once again lost her chopsticks.

Momomi on the other hand took over the red head's seat and studied Tamao. She would hate to admit it, but when she was studying over her part in _Carmen_, she had found the whole thing well written. She was impressed by Tamao's writing skills. As far as the story, it was something she truly enjoyed, since there were tons of back stabbing and death. At one point, she had thought she would have made a better Carman, than the girl on her right, but at the same time, she knew she couldn't pull off that sexy Carmen costume. Lost in her thoughts about the play, Shizuma had taken off both of her house shoes leaving Kaname fully clothed.

Having someone watching her was starting to freak Tamao out. She tried her best to look at those around the table so she could avoid paying attention to the brunette beside her, but it was starting to take great effect on her. After watching Shizuma standing up to remove the sash to the yukata, she turned towards Momomi and asked in a whisper, "Is there something on my face?"

Momomi looked at her for a moment before shaking her head, "I was trying to burn the image of your face into my memory."

Tamao looked taken aback by all of this, "Why?"

"It's not for any particular reason; it's just you have pretty face."

"Okay?" she said skeptically. The poet had no idea how to respond to the comment since she didn't know if Momomi was being serious or putting her on. In any case, she decided to change the topic. "Why did you scare Nagisa-chan away?"

A twinkle lit up in the brunette's eye as she explained quietly, "I didn't mean to scare her away, although, I should have expected it. Actually she wasn't my target."

"Really?"

Momomi waggled her eyebrows and said, "Of course. I had my eye on you. I thought you might like to play a game with me."

Tamao raised an eyebrow at the comment, "What kind of game?"

Before Momomi could answer, she looked behind the poet to see Shizuma once again standing up to take the rest of her yukata off. As soon as the yukata slid off of the silver fox's shoulders and on to the ground, the tall woman revealed how she wore a pair of black nylon knee highs and matching colored lacy underwear and bra set. Upon her neck hung a necklace, but what hung on it wasn't revealed (A/N: can you guess?). Momomi couldn't believe how inciting the Etoile looked; of course, she wasn't the only one in the room who thought so. Unfortunately, as soon as she sat down, the spell broke for those, who were mesmerized by her.

Once she looked away from the Etoile, Momomi once again gave her attention back to Tamao, "I'm sorry, what did you ask?"

Tamao looked at her incredulously and shook her head. Moments before when she found the brunette's eyes were no longer on her, the poet had turned her head slightly to see how come. A part of her could understand Momomi's distraction, after all Shizuma had a great body, however great the Etoile's body was it nothing for the poet. The fact was tall people didn't do anything for her; she preferred someone about her height or shorter. Her preference in height was due to her over protective desires. She liked the idea of being a knight who could protect the one she loves. With Nagisa, she had fit the description, but the blunette couldn't see herself romantically involved with her. It wasn't because she wasn't attracted to her, it just felt wrong. At first she was confused with her feelings until she realized they were ones she would have for a sister. After the whole cutting incident and hearing some of Nagisa's woes, Tamao had declared the girl her sister. She also suggested that she could ask her parents to talk to Nagisa's to see if they would be willing to sign over their parental rights so her family could adopt her.

The red head felt torn. She liked the idea, but at the same time she didn't want to leave her parents. In the end she only said that she would think about. Tamao had nodded her head as if saying 'you could take as long as she wanted.'

After a moment lost in thought, she turned her attention back to Momomi, "I was wondering what type of game you wanted to play."

With a wicked smile, Momomi placed a stick of P*cky in her mouth and sucked off the chocolate for a moment before pulling it out, "A little game I like to call chicken."

The poet looked at the brunette as if she were nuts, "Chicken, don't you need to use cars or some other motorized vehicle."

"Ah, not really," she said as she licked the stick again. "All we really need is our mouths and a P*chy stick."

The blunette's eyes grew wide at the sudden revelation. A part of her felt repulsed by the idea because of everything she knew about Momomi. On the other hand, she had seen how the girl could be caring in her own way. Of course, she could always break away from the stick if she felt too uncomfortable, and besides, she was kind of bored. She grabbed hold of the package in Momomi's hand and pinched out a stick of her own.

A gentle glee hit the brunette as soon as she seen the younger woman placed the chocolate coated stick in her mouth. Momomi quickly finished the stick she was eating, before placing her lips on the bare end of the stick in the other girl's mouth. Slowly she began to nibble on the end to move her lips closer to the other girl's. Just as she was close enough, the stick broke apart, but not by her doing. Suddenly, she felt rejected.

The actions of these two girls didn't go unnoticed by those in the room. Shizuma didn't really care. Chikaru was amused; after all it was the reason why she brought the treat. Kaname tested her own feelings to see if they held a slightly hint of jealousy, but she found none. Out of everyone, Nagisa felt the most emotions. She was freaking out to see her best friend getting to up close and personal with someone, who had tortured her since the play. Well, there were only two incidents, the play and the other one about a month or so ago. She remembered how Momomi had pushed her around like a slave and also literally pushing her which caused her to loose her balance and ruin the scenery that everyone worked so hard on. Due to her fright, she tried to stay away from her and anything else that was related to her from then on. That was until she started spending time with Kaname.

However, her fear came back tenfold as she was taken by surprised from Momomi's presence one day. The older girl had led her away so they could talk privately. Once they were alone, Momomi had pushed her to the ground and crawled on top of her. The brunette proceeded to slap Nagisa's on the face a few times while ranting about how a stupid girl like her couldn't have someone like Kaname. Momomi had also told her how disgusting she was and called her a whore along with other names. She then asked her, although not really wanting an answer, what Kaname could even see in a girl like her. Eventually, Momomi forcefully held the red head's hand above her head and fiercely kissed her on the lips. While still holding the girl's arms above her head with one hand, she moved the other one as it found its way towards the younger girl's chest, which was roughly handled. Having her fill of breasts, she moved from one intimate spot to another, the younger fought back and with all her strength and pushed Momomi away. It left her room to runaway.

She never felt so much self hatred, nor could she understand Momomi's actions. It confused her that Momomi would even consider her rival for Kaname's affections. When it came to her and the blunette, Nagisa only saw Kaname as just a friend. Of course, there was that one kiss…

Her thoughts were interrupted when she sensed movement coming from her left. Looking, she witnessed Kaname removing a shoe. The older girl looked a little relieved to see an article of clothing coming off. It confused Nagisa slightly. She looked from her towards Shizuma, who was frowning at having her yukata on again. This sight had relieved Nagisa greatly. When she had seen Shizuma without the yukata, she felt like digging herself a hole to crawl into. The embarrassment she felt from watching and staring at Shizuma was too much. Her heart had pounded in her chest as her eyes took in the sight on the Etoile's fair skin. Strangely enough, she found herself wanting to touch the skin, but at the same time it seemed wrong. She still liked Shizuma very much, but something in her affections for the older woman seemed to have died off. Just being in the silver wolf's presence unnerved her, well it always unnerved her. Before it was just intoxicating, but now it was uncomfortable.

She looked back over to Kaname and recalled her last conversation with Momomi. What did she feel for her? Kaname had come to her seeking for forgiveness. She had come to her when she desperately needed a friend. When finding out about the cuts, Kaname never truly judged her harshly. The older girl called her foolish but never with disgust. She felt more comfortable with Kaname. This blunette almost reminded her of what it was like to be in the presence of another, meaning Amane. It was more than her being tall and almost boyish, it was the fact she held a certain regal air about her. Nagisa smiled to herself as she thought about how she might have found a second prince in Spica. Maybe it more like a duke or something of that nature. Although this royal figure was completely arrogant, Nagisa knew it was only a front Kaname would use to hide her own insecurities. She liked the older girl, but could she really be in love with her. She sighed at the thought while she picked up another can of juice since she had emptied the first.

Chikaru looked at Nagisa with sympathy. "Are you bored, Nagisa-chan?" she asked.

The red head looked at Chikaru for a moment and shook her head, ""No, just lost in thought."

The Lulim girl smiled at her and nodded, "Ah, being lost in thought could be a sign of being bored. I'm sorry that I didn't think of planning any more activities."

The younger girl just smiled, "It's fine. I just have a lot to think about."

Chikaru left it alone for a minute to see Kaname take off her other shoe. Once it was placed to the side, Chikaru spoke up again, "You know a normal game of strip poker includes more than two people playing."

"What are you suggesting?" asked Kaname.

"Well, you could go on as you are, but it would probably take forever until one you… well you know. Or you could keep losing your clothes when you lose, but if you win instead of putting your clothes back on, you'll get to share a P*cky stick with Nagisa-chan. That is if she agrees."

Kaname looked from Chikaru to Nagisa and back again, "I don't you should put Aoi on the spot like that."

Shizuma looked at the blue haired Spica girl. It just bothered her to see Kaname's over protectiveness. She thought it over the top and uncalled for. Although, she didn't like the thought of Nagisa kissing some other girl, she could see Chikaru having a point, "Kenjo-san, who do you think you are? Nagisa's mother. It's not your decision to make; it's up to Nagisa."

Kaname bit her lower lip. She knew she was in the wrong, but still, she knew it would be hard on Nagisa. Instead of letting her anger get the better of her, she kept her cool and smirked, "You're right, Etoile-sama." She turned her attention back to Nagisa. "What do you say, Aoi?"

"Um, I don't want to, but…" began Nagisa as her eyes went from Shizuma to Kaname. Shizuma was her first love, but could she really love another. She had to know her true feelings for the Spica girl. "I'll do it."

Both Shizuma and Chikaru grinned, while Kaname only wanted to grind her teeth. "Let's play on."

Chikaru gathered the cards up and shuffled them. She passed out five cards to each competitor. The girls studied their hand before picking out some cards to exchange. Shizuma asked for a card and Kaname, two. After rearranging their cards, they laid them on the table. The blunette played a pair of kings and a pair of twos. Of course, Shizuma won by playing a full house. While Kaname pulled off a sock, Shizuma pulled out a stick and put it between her lips. Nagisa placed her lips on the opposite end. When their lips met in the middle, they kissed pretty deeply.

Shizuma had missed those lips terribly. They tasted so good and warm. Where she was enjoying the kiss, Nagisa wanted to feel what her feelings were telling her. So far she hadn't come to any conclusion.

Momomi had watched the new development in the game and felt sick. It was just wrong in her opinion. She saw the torment in her ex-lover's eyes, but she couldn't give any words of comfort. She hated how Nagisa was playing with both girls' feelings; of course, she didn't understand what was going through the red head's mind. Not wanting to witness this painful scene anymore, she turned back to Tamao, who had worry in her eyes. Curious, Momomi leaned in and whispered in the poet's ear, "What are you thinking about?"

Tamao gave her attention to the other girl and whispered in her ear, "Would you hate me if I said I want Nagisa-chan to end up Kenjo-san?"

This surprised Momomi greatly, "Why would you say that?"

"I don't know everything, but in the short time that I've gotten to know Kenjo-san, I've found a whole new respect for her. She truly loves Nagisa-chan and cares for her deeply. My roommate really needs someone like that."

The brunette nodded, "I hate to admit this, but I think Nagisa has been a good influence on my friend."

Tamao pursed her lips together as she couldn't help but question if Momomi have a nicer side as well. She pulled out a cookie stick and once the non-coated end was in her mouth, she offered Momomi the other end. With questioning mirth, Momomi placed her lips on the chocolate coated portion and chewed it on up. It didn't take long for their lips to meet. The kiss didn't last long, but it felt good. Tamao stared into the older girl's eyes and saw desire in them. An evil thought of her own crossed Tamao's mind as she took another stick and placed it in her mouth. Again Momomi took the bait, but as soon as they were about to kiss, Tamao broke off. At a lost, the brunette looked at the younger girl to catch the poet giving her a wink. _She's such a tease_! Inwardly, Momomi smiled.

Kaname had watched as her ex-lover kissed Tamao, she couldn't help, but wonder on what Momomi was thinking about or at least what the girl thought of Tamao. To see her friend finally showing interest in someone made the bkuette happy. What's more, she liked how Tamao seemed to being teasing her ex-lover. If there was someone Kaname could see her friend with, it would either be Shion or Tamao. Her ability to manipulate people is Shion's main draw card. However, Tamao didn't really manipulate people. From what the Spica girl observed about the poet as if the younger girl found something she liked, she would become obsessed with it. This would often lead the girl to become sneaky. Tamao once told her how she had wanted to get a recording of Nagisa screaming. To do this, she had arranged to scare her roommate during summer school. Kaname had taken a liking to the girl and knew she had great potential; whither it was for either good or evil.

Inwardly she smiled as she looked away from her friend to study her cards. After taking out two cards to exchange, she looked up to see Shizuma's brow furrowing. She took out three cards for exchanged. Once they picked up their new cards, Kaname felt better. Shizuma had put down a three of a kind built from fives. Kaname had also placed a three of a kind down, but of tens. Shizuma was once again without her yukata.

Kaname took a stick from her pack of p*cky and placed the strawberry end away from her towards Nagisa. Shyly the younger girl began to nibble on it until their lips finally touched. Before joining lips, the older girl was afraid of kissing the red head because of what happened the last time. However, as they kissed, Kaname was flooded with so much love and lust, but at the same time she felt complete. Somehow at the end of the kiss, she felt like crying.

It hurt her, but she couldn't blame Nagisa for her actions. The red head didn't know of Kaname's feelings. However, it didn't keep the Spica girl from questioning why Nagisa was doing this. The girl had said so herself that she didn't want to do this before she agreed. The brunette couldn't figure out why. It troubled her greatly. With Momomi, she knew what she was getting, but with Nagisa it was completely different. For the most part, she desperately wanted to get inside the red head's head to find out what made it tick. The younger girl seemed rather sporadic and somehow it was a frustrating turn on for the older girl. If she could have it her way, she would spend a life time getting to know the puzzle that was Nagisa.

The game continued on.

Nagisa watched as her roommate and Momomi were kissing and teasing each other. It became awkward just watching them, so she became tuned into the poker game more. Her eyes had roamed Shizuma's body. At one point she had found herself wanting to touch and feel it, but now she felt too afraid to. She chalked it up to her changing feelings.

From the Etoile, Nagisa's gaze went towards Kaname, who by this point had nothing on her feet, no sunglasses, no jacket and no pants. Her mind starting thinking about what the older girl would look like without any clothes on. In a way Kaname was beautiful, but like Amane, the best word used for her would be handsome. She recalled when Kaname had held her in her arms and comforted her because of the abuse she did to her own body. She hated how she caused the older woman distressed at that point in time and vowed to not do anything stupid like that again. However, within the older girl's arms, she had felt safe and truly wanted. With Shizuma, it felt more like a game at times, but with Kaname it wasn't. Oh and the kisses, she was receiving…

They felt like love's medicine running through her veins. She had wanted to kiss her more. She couldn't explain it. It just Kaname's kisses meant so much more to her then anything Shizuma gave her. Her lips were soft, and although they were not too sweet, they did taste yummy. Shocked at where her course of thoughts were taking, she found she couldn't stop them as she was wondering how it would feel like if Kaname were to kiss more than just her lips.

Her day dreams were interrupted as she witnessed the older girl removing her shirt. The red head's heart began to thump in her chest as she saw the girl's bare tummy, but her viewing pleasure was interrupted when someone turned her head away. Not having time to process anything, she found herself kissing Shizuma.

Once recovering from shock, Nagisa's heart fell. Even though the kiss was good, it felt just wrong. She loved Shizuma, and she probably would always hold a special place in her heart for her, but there was someone who needed her. In the moment of the kiss, she realized how much torture Kaname was willing to go through for her. To do this crazy duel, must have taken a lot out of the older girl. The red head knew that she needed to repay the Spica girl for her great kindness and there was only one thing she could think of.

She knew things were broken off between the blunette and Momomi, so that didn't cross her mind. Nor of the fact she would hurt Shizuma, the thing was she couldn't have cared less, since the Etoile had broken her heart before. The only person in her mind was Kaname and the only action she wanted to follow burst from her.

With great strength, she pushed away from Shizuma, who asked, "What's wrong?"

The younger girl shook her head, "I'm sorry, but I can't do this."

"What do you mean?" asked Shizuma confused.

Nagisa didn't say anything to her and pulled herself out of Shizuma's arms. Without any words, she threw herself at Kaname, who reacted on instinct caught her. The red head's actions caused the blunette confusion from the sudden affection. "Are you okay?" she asked worriedly.

The girl in her arms snuggled into her neck and took a sniff of her skin. She found she loved the smell. Without warning Kaname, Nagisa kissed older girl's neck, sending Goosebumps along the Spica girl's skin.

Kaname couldn't help but feel elated at the sensation. As she held onto the girl, Nagisa placed her lips against Kaname's ear and said, "I love you."

Uncharacteristic tears sprang forth from the blunette's eyes as she pulled Nagisa out of the embrace to look her in the eyes. For first time, she smiled a genuine smile. "I love you too." She brought the younger girl into a kiss. Both felt the love of the other as their lips danced.

Shizuma watched on with a broken heart. Chikaru looked on pleased with the situation. Both Tamao and Momomi looked at their friends and felt sincere happiness for them.


	14. Chapter 14

A/N: Here's the conclusion of the story and man, I'm glad I'm done. I should say that when I writing this, I realized it was kind of a _Pride and Prejudice_ type version of Strawberry Panic. Of course it wasn't my intention to write it like that. As for how my story was like Austin's, I have Kaname being like Mr. Darcy and Nagisa as Elizabeth, but not as sassy. Shizuma was like . Tamao was like Jane and Momomi was a combination of Mr. Bingley and his sister. If you don't see it in this story like I do, I totally understand.

Of course as I was writing, I was thinking I could have done it more of a _Romeo and Juliet_ type story since Nagisa and Kaname came from rival schools, I somehow couldn't see them as star crossed lovers. Besides Kaname would make for a bad Romeo or is it Juliet as Spica would definantly be the Capulets and Miator the Montagues. Actually Kaname would make for a good Tybolt. As far as Juliet, it's a toss up between Amane and Hikari. Romeo on the other hand could be either Nagisa or Shizuma. Of course, I'm not planning on writing a story like that; I was just saying this story could have ended up like it. Oh, the most concrete element in tat type of story would be for Chikaru to be Friar Laurence.

Well enough of my ramblings and on wards to the end of the story, which is pretty much an epilogue.

* * *

><p>About six years later…<p>

Nagisa was sitting down on the sofa in the living room of her spacious flat she shared with Kaname. For the past six years, they had lived in love for each other. They had shared over a year of bliss while on Astraea Hill along with one heck of a terrible year apart, since Nagisa was only a year younger than Kaname. They finally were reunited when the red head joined the blunette at college. She was going to live in a dorm room, but Kaname insisted that they share an apartment. Nagisa gave in. From that time they both had graduated. Kaname had started taking over for her father, while Nagisa was trying to start her own bakery. The blunette had offered to lend her money, but the red head refused any help because she wanted to do it on her own. The older girl didn't question anything further.

"What do you have there?" asked Kaname's voice as she walked into the living room from the bathroom.

Nagisa looked up from the card in her hand to see her lover naked with dripping wet hair. Some drops of water trickled down her skin, causing the red head's mouth to water. Realizing her actions, the red head shook her head and stared back down at the card, "It's a wedding invite."

"Oh," asked Kaname as she sat down next to Nagisa, drawling her into herself. "Who's it from?"

"Tamao," replied Nagisa.

"Really? I guessed your sister finally popped the question to Momomi." During the time she was in school, Nagisa's parents made less and less contact with her. Feeling dejected, but confident in her decision, she finally accepted Tamao's invitation to be adopted into her family, who warmly welcomed her into their family. Before it could be official, they had hunted down the Aoi's for their agreement. Sadly, they couldn't have been happier to get rid of their daughter. It hurt Nagisa, but she was able to get over it with help from her new family and her girlfriend.

Nagisa giggled from what Kaname had said and nodded her head.

"What's so funny?" asked an amused blunette.

"Well, Tamao said she was going to propose to her three days ago, but I never knew the results until today, but that's not the funny part. The funny part is having the wedding invitations so soon. I think Tamao must have made them ahead of time."

The older woman smiled, "It would be so like her to do that."

They sat in silence for a moment just enjoying each others' company, until Kaname spoke up, "Hey, guess who I ran into the other day?"

"Who?"

"Shizuma."

"Oh, how was she?"

"Same as always," replied Kaname. "She's running her family's company and enjoying life. Did you know she's been having an on again off again relationship with Chikaru-san?"

"You don't say."

"Yep, it's true."

"Did Shizuma-sama say anything about what Chikaru-chan is up to?"

"Only that she's one of the top rising fashion designers."

"Oh, that's right; I did read something like that the other day in a magazine. If I recall from the article, she works in the fashion company Miyuki-san owns."

"I bet Miator's ex-student body president hands are full."

"What do you mean?" asked Nagisa.

"Well, her rival company is Shion-san's."

Both girls rolled their eyes and laughed until they calm down again. Nagisa took Kaname's left hand in hers and looked at their ring fingers. Both of them wore a gold band with the word 'always' engraved in the ring. With a smile on her face, Nagisa asked, "When do you think we should tell Tamao and Momomi?" Over time Nagisa and Momomi came to a truest, but they were still awkward when they were around each other.

Kaname placed her lips on the red head's bare shoulder, "We'll wait until after they're married. Until then, you'll remain my secret bride."

The red snuggled more into Kaname, "I could live with that."

After a moment's silence, Nagisa's wife spoke up, "Nagi?"

"Yes, Kana?"

"Love, I couldn't help but like this."

"Like what?"

"You and me, lounging around in only our birthday suits," the older woman replied.

"What are you getting at?" asked Nagisa as she faced her wife.

Kaname traced her love's nose with her finger before explaining, "What would you say about being nudists in our own home?"

"EeeeHHhhh!"


End file.
